heroes Yrel Overview

[Stan 5,240]

Yrel's joining the Nexus soon and our preview covers her full list of talents, available skins, and more!

The latest content patch is now available for playtesting and it's time to look at Yrel in more detail.

Overview

• Cost: 750 Gems
• Role: Warrior (Melee Tank)
• Difficulty: Medium
• Strengths: Tank, Crowd Control, Sustain
• Weaknesses: Heavy Crowd Control, High Mobility Enemies

Hero Spotlight

Hero Skins

Yrel, Light of Hope

After traveling to an Alternate Draenor, the forces of Azeroth saved the acolyte Yrel from the Iron Horde. With their aid, she rose to the rank of Exarch and fought back the demonic invasion of her world. Now, she finds herself where time, space, and dimensions converge: the Nexus.

Players that purchase Yrel have access to three base skins.

• Light of Hope
• Bloodmyst Yrel
• Crystalforged Yrel

Two additional tints can be purchased for 150  each.

• Silver Hand Yrel
• Dreamknight Yrel

Mad Jester Yrel

Not all villains have super powers. Some, like the Jester gang, spread chaos and mayhem using whatever weaponry they can steal. While you don't have to be mad to join their ranks, if you do... you probably are.

The following skins come with themed abilities:

• Mad Jester Yrel
• Sparkle Jester Yrel
• Mad Harlequin Yrel

Trait

Divine Purpose (Cooldown: 10 seconds)

• Activate to instantly charge Yrel's next Basic Ability at no mana cost.
• Passive: Yrel's Basic Abilities charge up over 1.5 seconds, increasing in effectiveness, but reducing Yrel's Movement Speed by 25%.

Basic Abilities

[Q] Vindication (Mana: 50, Cooldown: 6 seconds)

• Unleash holy energy around Yrel, dealing 38 damage to nearby enemies and healing her for 06. Charging up this Ability increases its damage up to 125, and healing up to 320.

[W] Righteous Hammer (Mana: 50, Cooldown: 6 seconds)

• Swing Yrel's hammer, dealing 36 damage to enemies in front of her and knocking them away. Charging up this Ability increases its knockback distance, and damage up to 125. Enemies hit at maximum charge are Stunned for 0.75 seconds.

[E] Avenging Wrath (Mana: 50, Cooldown: 6 seconds)

• Leap to a location, dealing 150 damage to enemies in an area and Slowing them by 50% for 1 second. Charging up this Ability increases its range.

Heroic Abilities

[R1] Ardent Defender (Mana: 40, Cooldown: 100 seconds)

• Surround Yrel in a barrier for 3 sec, absorbing all damage taken and healing her for 50% of the damage received.

[R2] Sacred Ground (Mana: 40, Cooldown: 40 seconds)

• Yrel sanctifies the ground around her, gaining 40 Armor until she leaves the area.

Talents

Below is a full list of Yrel's talents.

Level 1

Light of Karabor (Q)

• Increase Vindication's radius by 15%. Vindication's healing is increased by 20% per enemy Hero hit.

Dauntless (Passive)

• Casting a Basic Ability grants Yrel 35 Physical Armor for 2 seconds.

Maraad's Insight (Passive)

• After casting a Basic Ability, Yrel's next Basic Attack heals her for 148.

Level 4

Aegis of Light (E)

• Upon landing, Avenging Wrath grants other nearby allied Heroes 25 Armor for 5 seconds.

Gift of the Naaru (D)

• Divine Purpose heals the lowest Health nearby allied Hero other than Yrel for 400.

Hand of Freedom (Active, Cooldown: 30 seconds)

• Grant an Allied Hero 35% Movement Speed for 3 seconds and remove all Slows and Roots from them. Cannot be used on Yrel.

Level 7

Righteous Momentum (W)

• While Channeling Righteous Hammer at maximum charge, gain 45% Movement Speed.

Holy Avenger (E)

• Hitting an enemy Hero with Avenging Wrath at maximum charge reduces its cooldown to 1 second.

Divine Steed (Z)

• Mounting is instant and grants 80% Movement Speed that decays over 3 seconds.

Samaara's Light (Passive)

• While above 50% Health, gain 15% Movement Speed.

Level 10

• See Heroic Abilities above.

Level 13

Aldor Peacekeeper (Q)

• Enemy Heroes hit by Vindication at maximum charge deal 30% less damage for 3 seconds.

Repentance (E)

• Increase Avenging Wrath's Slow by 25% and duration by 0.5 seconds.

Velen's Chosen (Passive)

• Hitting an enemy Hero with a Basic Ability at maximum charge grants 10% Spell Power for 10 seconds, up to 30%.

Level 16

Templar's Verdict (W)

• Righteous Hammer reduces the Armor of enemy Heroes hit by 20 for 2 seconds.

Divine Favor (D)

• Casting a Basic Ability reduces the cooldown of Divine Purpose by 2 seconds.

Holy Wrath (Passive)

• After casting a Basic Ability, Yrel's next Basic Attack splashes for 30% increased damage around the target.

Level 20

Word of Glory (R1)

• Ardent Defender heals nearby allied Heroes for 100% of the healing received by Yrel.

Hollowed Ground (R2)

• Casting Avenging Wrath while inside Sacred Ground moves Sacred Ground to Yrel's location upon landing.

Bubble Hearth (Active, Cooldown: 80 seconds)

• After 1 second, Yrel becomes Invulnerable and casts Hearthstone. Cannot be canceled.

Seraphim (Active, Cooldown: 10 seconds)

• Activate to become Unstoppable for 2 seconds.

[Warper 12]

Gift of Naarru + divine favor seems really good. Can throw in Velen’s chosen if you got space for some really good healing on 6 second cd if you stick to max channel or sooner if an ally's in a pinch.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Warper

[ArusVicious 156]

29 minutes ago, Warper said:

Gift of Naarru + divine favor seems really good. Can throw in Velen’s chosen if you got space for some really good healing on 6 second cd if you stick to max channel or sooner if an ally's in a pinch.

Can confirm that Gift of Naarru and divine favor are proving to be very often picked. They are likely to be a standard if they go unchanged live. 

[ArusVicious 156]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

Seraphim (Active, Cooldown: 10 seconds)

• Activate to become Unstoppable for 2 seconds.

Busted talent. 2sec self cleanse on a 10 second cooldown is basically a better version of Garrosh's Indomitable with a longer duration and much shorter cooldown. I don't see why this talent should ever be overlooked. Being unstoppable that often is just too good to pass up, especially with Yrel's "charging up" playstyle.

 

[Plergoth 277]

Yrel & Tyrael & Zarya & two Supports = unkillable meta? 

[Valhalen 1,484]

8 minutes ago, Plergoth said:

Yrel & Tyrael & Zarya & two Supports = unkillable meta? 

Unkillable meta that also won't kill anything either. Hahahaha.

[Teufel 331]

(Golden sands whirl around you as the world slow down to a near halt, and you hear a cheerful, even a bit childish voice in your head.)
"Don't worry, that's gonna get nerfed, too."

[Plergoth 277]

25 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

Unkillable meta that also won't kill anything either. Hahahaha.

I look forward to the ResidentSleeper tournies! 

[Orshova 31]

Level 7 is the talent tier that is giving me a hard time finding that default talent pick outside of unique situations. I'm thinking divine steed? 

[ReaperChief 2]

4 hours ago, Plergoth said:

Yrel & Tyrael & Zarya & two Supports = unkillable meta? 

Nah, bruh, Yrel, Uther, Johanna, Zarya and Tyrael.. Then you're unkillable. But incapable of killing.

[ReaperChief 2]

4 hours ago, Maxkitty said:

Busted talent. 2sec self cleanse on a 10 second cooldown is basically a better version of Garrosh's Indomitable with a longer duration and much shorter cooldown. I don't see why this talent should ever be overlooked. Being unstoppable that often is just too good to pass up, especially with Yrel's "charging up" playstyle.

 

For comparison, nobody says that Johanna's trait is busted. Consider the fact that it's at level 20 and I think it's a pretty good counter to hard CC when she is casting spells. I'd say that Indomitable has a proper cooldown given the fact that it's at level 4.  

[lChronosl 182]

Cool pairing idea: Samuro (or other squishy high damage assassin) + Yrel (Gift of the Narru + Holy Avenger + Repetance + DIvine Favor) = super efficient slow, decent CC and healing for your squishy friend.

[Peaches9 15]

Does she have a visible "damage healed" stat like Tyrael? I really hope so. Hotslogs shows that they already have this info for everybody (even heroes with small/no healing), so why not? It seems like this will be an important part of her kit, so that would be a good thing to have access to. I mean, if Probius has it (and depends on a single talent to even do any healing) why shouldn't Yrel?

[schmeisser 0]

What really interests me is if she feels overpowered like Maiev or Fenix on their release? Or just a pleasantly played tank, like Blaze?

[Arcling 898]

4 hours ago, schmeisser said:

What really interests me is if she feels overpowered like Maiev or Fenix on their release? Or just a pleasantly played tank, like Blaze?

She is definitely on the lower end of damage spectrum, although better players can still maintain decent numbers. Certainly not like Blaze, as he is able to do huge numbers on siege and in team fights. She is tanky, but overall doesn't seem overpowered as average (at best) damage kinda makes it balanced. Another thing is that she has channeled abilities, might require some setups for better combos.

[lChronosl 182]

She feels a lot like Blaze imo. Her kit includes: AoE damage, self heal, stun and dash, just like his. Also she can get armor, and "hold your ground" heroic on a low cooldown. Her main difference is that she has many talnet options to help her team, such as healing and armor.

And you can dish out some nice damage if you build around Avenging Wrath and Holy Wrath.

Edited June 6, 2018 by lChronosl

[Valhalen 1,484]

8 hours ago, schmeisser said:

What really interests me is if she feels overpowered like Maiev or Fenix on their release? Or just a pleasantly played tank, like Blaze?

Tanks are usually balanced on launch (except for Garrosh). Her peeling and engage will be pretty good, apparently. Lots of CC, mobility and tankiness. She actually has the fifth highest base health in the game, I think. She will be a really good tank without breaking the game, kinda like Muradin. I actually see her as a balance between Sonya and Muradin. Her Avenging Wrath build will be really really fun to use.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Valhalen

[Fayte 6]

Garrosh actually wasn't unbalanced, his win rate was still under 50%.  He just got banned a lot because you had to be more careful with positioning.  And Yrel has pretty poor Engage, as she has to jump behind their backline to get any kind of engage going.  

Edited June 6, 2018 by Fayte

[lChronosl 182]

2 hours ago, Fayte said:

[...]

And Yrel has pretty poor Engage, as she has to jump behind their backline to get any kind of engage going.  

That, or you can either Righteous Momentum or Divine Steed in the enemies face.

Edited June 6, 2018 by lChronosl