Heroes of the Storm Alexstrasza

[Vlad 411]

This thread is for comments about our Alexstrasza build guide for Heroes of the Storm.

[Erathis 53]

I'm surprised Circle of Life, Verdant Flourish, Dragon Scales, and Draconic Discipline all got red check marks.  I can't wait to hear the reasoning as all of these seem at the very least reasonable options in certain situations.

[Valhalen 1,484]

@KendricSwissh, can you answer a question? Does bonus healing effects (such as Biotic Grenade) affect the healing output of Alexstrasza %-based healing? Also regarding to Ana, does her Nano Boost affects the cooldown of Dragonqueen itself and related abilities while in that form?

Because based on that, Ana could become bestest friends in the Nexus with Alexstrasza. MOTHER KNOWS BEST.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Valhalen

[Erathis 53]

3 hours ago, Valhalen said:

@KendricSwissh, can you answer a question? Does bonus healing effects (such as Biotic Grenade) affect the healing output of Alexstrasza %-based healing? Also regarding to Ana, does her Nano Boost affects the cooldown of Dragonqueen itself and related abilities while in that form?

Because based on that, Ana could become bestest friends in the Nexus with Alexstrasza. MOTHER KNOWS BEST.

I think Ana and Alex would team up a lot even if their healing didn't mesh (though I think/hope they will).  Alex just really, really doesn't want to see Ana on the other team.  Biotic Grenade and Sleep Darts are an absolute nightmare for Alex to face.  Grenade eats up her healing options (and Alex really can't afford that) while Sleep Dart disrupts Alex badly (messing up Flame chaining, stopping people from getting into her healing circle, wasting time on her Dragon form, ect...).

[Valhalen 1,484]

2 minutes ago, TSRD said:

I think Ana and Alex would team up a lot even if their healing didn't mesh (though I think/hope they will).  Alex just really, really doesn't want to see Ana on the other team.  Biotic Grenade and Sleep Darts are an absolute nightmare for Alex to face.  Grenade eats up her healing options (and Alex really can't afford that) while Sleep Dart disrupts Alex badly (messing up Flame chaining, stopping people from getting into her healing circle, wasting time on her Dragon form, ect...).

Double Mom Composition FTW.

[Guest eve]

Circle of Life < The rewards that the talent provides arent that big compared to the other 2. The quest is also too damm long. It also buffs your ability that has the longest cd.
 

What i dont get why not Exuberance when it has clearly better synergy with Life Blossom then Surge of Vitality.
Life Blossom will most of the time spawn in a position not best for a healer to be. That 15% more speed can allow her to collect it and retreat faster.
 

Fire Within looks like the best self-sustain from the tier. Arguably it may be better and safer then Life Blossom.

Verdant Flourish < Again gives you better selfsustain on an ability with the highest cd. Understandable that its not recommended.

Dragonic Disciple is clearly the best option for the flame build but even for a healer buid its pretty good. 
9 second more measn 2 preservations instead of 1 and 3 more Breath of Life.
Putting not recommended on that seems like a bad decision. 

 

[KendricSwissh 66]

22 hours ago, Valhalen said:

@KendricSwissh, can you answer a question? Does bonus healing effects (such as Biotic Grenade) affect the healing output of Alexstrasza %-based healing? Also regarding to Ana, does her Nano Boost affects the cooldown of Dragonqueen itself and related abilities while in that form?

Because based on that, Ana could become bestest friends in the Nexus with Alexstrasza. MOTHER KNOWS BEST.

No, % based healing does not get empowered by healing boosts. Same goes for % based damage, which will not benefit from any damage boosts. 

 

[KendricSwissh 66]

22 hours ago, TSRD said:

I'm surprised Circle of Life, Verdant Flourish, Dragon Scales, and Draconic Discipline all got red check marks.  I can't wait to hear the reasoning as all of these seem at the very least reasonable options in certain situations.

Hey friend! 

Alexstrasza has a very competitive talent tree overall and I am pretty sure the builds will vary over the next few months. 

I'm currently in London casting the HotS Nexus Games, but I will try to give detailed talent descriptions as quickly as possible! :)

Hope you enjoyed the guide! 

[TheStratovarian 1]

Medivh has a very strong synergy for healing with her, his protection from force of will lets her ignore the hp cost of Her Q it looks like.

At 20, the spell power boost is a strong boost to her uptime as well. I'm not sure if the hp cost of this also stacks with the restoring talent he gets. or Invisibility to aid if she's getting focused.

 

[Guest Brymith]

In the description of dragonqueen it says, 

Quote

While in Dragon Form, it is important to use  Breath of Life whenever it is off cooldown, since it does not scale with Alexstrasza's health pool.

While it's true that the ability doesn't scale with her maximum health, it does scale with her current health (as per the tooltip). I think this was supposed to say, "since it does not cost health to use."

Flame Buffet has this sentence: 

Quote

Hitting targets who are already afflicted by Flame Buffet is crucial to maximize its efficiency. Using Flame Buffet too often without enemy Heroes nearby, in order to clear Minion waves for instance, usually results in Alexstrasza running low on Mana.

But Flame Buffet's mana cost removal applies to minions (and even structures, I think), so it can be used to clear waves without costing Alexstrasza a lot of mana, since the refund is triggered on subsequent hits. As long as you hit one "enemy" more than once before the debuff expires an entire wave clear only costs 50 mana. I suppose that cost could add up over time if there are a lot of gaps between usages, but an aggressive Alexstrasza who can accurately poke with Flame Buffet on CD won't have many mana issues with that particular ability.

[Guest Brymith]

42 minutes ago, Guest Brymith said:

As long as you hit one "enemy" more than once before the debuff expires an entire wave clear only costs 50 mana.

I meant to say, an entire lane clear. It's unrealistic that the enemy team would allow that to happen, but with the way that the ability currently works, Alexstrasza could potentially push through an entire lane for 50 mana as long as she hits something already ignited by Flame Buffet on cooldown.

[Dejo93 1,023]

Why not add Assassin with AoE dps (Jaina,Kael,Cassia etc) as her counters? Since they can force her and her allies from her healing zone

[EDL666 18]

Wing Buffet's description starts with "Wing Buffet is Wing Buffet's" the second Wing Buffet was clearly supposed to be Flame Buffet especially if you take into account the context of the following sentences.

[positiv2 953]

2 hours ago, EDL666 said:

Wing Buffet's description starts with "Wing Buffet is Wing Buffet's" the second Wing Buffet was clearly supposed to be Flame Buffet especially if you take into account the context of the following sentences.

Thanks! This should be fixed together with a few other issues in this guide soon.

[Guest Alextraza Fanboi]

Why are Greymane and Zul'jin synergises with Alextraza?  

[Guest Alextraza Fanboi]

Also are you sure about this percent based healing with ana thing?  I've seen biotic grenade work on healing fountains.  

[KendricSwissh 66]

7 hours ago, Guest Alextraza Fanboi said:

Why are Greymane and Zul'jin synergises with Alextraza?  

Greymane is an example of hard engaging Assassins benefitting from Life-Binder. Could have also chosen Sonya for that matter. 
Zul'jin can be healed up for nicely by her, which means he can afford to play more recklessly. 

There are, of course, way more other Heroes that could also benefit from Alexstrasza, but we cannot put them all into a small overview section of the guide. 

For instance, I chose Cho'gall and Diablo as high health heroes that get value from Life-Binder. But I could have mentioned ETC, Muradin, or Arthas as well.  That much I leave up to your own common sense of understanding. 

[Guest eve]

indeed, biotic grenade works on healing foutain.
i also read a discussion about this somewhere, sorry forgot where. 
But OP mentioned that biotic grenade buffs Sticheses ownt self heal which is % based.

[Guest Shanghaied]

Right now, Live and Let Live and Lifeblossom feel really powerful, possibly too good.  The only drawback is that you have to take risks with positioning to get the blossom, which worst case you drop the blossom.  I actually think Exuberance is possibly a bit stronger with these two than Surge of Vitality.

You basically have a free decent heal that you can spam every 5 seconds, which is even more effective with high health heroes.  Dual warrior comp along with Life-Binder at 10 feels pretty oppressive.

[PieceOfPanic 0]

I am using this build: https://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/talent-calculator/alexstrasza#26.0!1232132

I find It's quite effective :)

[PizzamanCZE 4]

Alexa is so amazing :) totally free healing, what more do we want?

Btw Varian came to nexus from Skyrim and his name is Dovahkiin. Fus do rah !!!

 

But I am afraid alexa will get nerfed a lot soon :(

My build:
https://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/talent-calculator/alexstrasza#26.0!1111311

[gerbercage 15]

This is my build. Heal, Dmg, CC on same time.

I don't like to focus on Abundance because it is long cooldown so those talent that depend on it will not in my pick. (It become not effective with that long counter. I always compare it with Ana Biotic Grenade which also 16 sec cooldown but it don't have delay to take effect. It can heal teammate on time and also 25% increased healing for 4 sec plus dmg opponent and denied their heal for 2 sec.

When playing this hero, you should remember that you got 2 ulti. 1 is dragon form, 1 is cleansing flame.

The first go flames of fury so that can always use the dragon. It is easy quest.

The second talent go movement speed so that you can chase and keep flame buffet to slow opponent when they start flee. It also help you to dodge skill shot from opponent.

3rd is lifeblossom, this is the most important to make her become effective healer plus maintain her fast movement spd.

For ulti, cleansing flame better than life binder for most of the time. It provide dmg and heal on same time, avoid death, reposition.

This ulti the best use in dragon form so that you can first dmg the opponent and heal teammate that attacked by melee (also good when mathael start jump in to your teammate in teamfight, you can dmg him while heal teammate) , then later show out at their back and push them to own side. It is also good in countering those invisible hero when trying do hit and run in teamfight.

While you in dragon form and use this cleansing flame, both of your ulti start cooldown, it will make you less chance to vulnerable to opponent because dragon form 15 sec and cleansing flame 8 sec.

 

Lvl 13 talent pacify give you provide support in attack and defense way. When opponent start losing and flee, due to 15% movespeed, you can outrun them then you got flame buffet slow them anymore and now with pacify you can slow them plus reduce their dmg so that your attacker can easily catch up them and kill it. In situation your team lose in fight, you can  cast it on opponent that start chasing teammate. Good in countering those diver.

Life unbound only good when opponent mostly are melee and like to target your tanker in melee.

lvl 16 draconic discipline good when you focus on your dragon. You get 9 more sec so if use effectively, your both ulti got 32 sec cooldown while you in dragon form or cleansing flame time. This make your cleansing flame got 90-32=58sec cooldown only when you in human form (vulnerable). I consider dragon strong abit and as long as fight with teammate, it is not that vulnerable compare in human form. Your dragon cooldown also reduce from 150 to 118sec plus more when you keep flame buffet your opponent. So overall in 1 match, you got almost 30-40% of time in non-human form.

Tough Love good if you pick live and let live at talent 1 which focusing on heal in game. Both of these together can make your teammate very strong and tanky.

Lvl 20 talent go ancient flame, make it stronger dmg and cc in dragon form.

On ruby wings good when opponent always fight in melee which you can make use dragon more and more.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/talent-calculator/alexstrasza#26.0!3312233

[xevex 41]

In your Dragonqueen description it doesnt mention that the gained hp scales with lvl but it does. 

[Bumble 0]

I'm feeling a little disappointed by Alexa, I really liked the look of her, but I feel like she's a little too passive or gets punished/overwhelmed a lot easier than other healers, when/if you hit about 45% HP during a skirmish your allies are done for

I know a lot of people feel she's powerful and I should git gud, but I also feel like she needs tuning a little, especially given the healing nerf.

I'd really like it if she had some a bit more going on besides being great at out of combat healing, for example, if she could damage/slow/mark enemies near her Q target (minor dmg) if she does, it could refund some of the health cost. or if her W had some crowd control or damage component that allowed it to be more flexible. Currently it feels like I'm telling my allies where to go stand and get attacked.

I'm not saying she needs a buff or anything, I know she can shine with high hp warriors and she's kind of niche etc. but I'd really like if there was more to do with her than stay super safe and above 70% hp.

[Trensicourt 5]

Why is her waveclear underwhelming? I think it's above average for a healer.

 

*edits*

After playing some games with Alex, I think she her healing potential is really limited. W is underwhelming and difficult to use. Q is powerful, but gets weak quickly as health drops. Her E is strong and balanced; I wish there was more damage talents related to E, but Blizzard doesn't like this direction for supports.

In comparison to other healers:

Healing: 2/5

• Q and W healing are mediocre at best and gets weaker as she loses health. 

Damage: 4/5

• E provides decent dps along with a slow, pierce, and long range, which in turn increases E dps.

Waveclear: 4/5

• E's pierce, moderate damage, and mana refund allows for fast and efficient clearing.

Survivability: 2/5

• Beyond Cleansing Fire and Dragon Form, there is very little Alex can do against a dedicated dive. Furthermore, any damage taken, especially from poke, leads to downward cyclic levels of sustain.

Crowd Control: 3/5

• E's range and pierce allows great slows, which in turn allows indefinite chases and retreats. Wing Buffet in dragon form also alleviates the issue of dives.

Mobility: 2/5

• Despite the plentiful of talents that increases Alex's mobility, albeit moderate to low, they do not impact Alex's ability to rotate and escape dives in any way.

Effective Utility: 4/5

• Besides W, all of her abilities, including talent ones, are easy to use and some are even exploitable: Flame Buffet.

Overall Score: 3/5

Edited December 2, 2017 by Trensicourt