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Auriel Build Guide “Diablo is vanquished, and all evil with him.”
Welcome to our guide for Auriel, a Healer in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.
Auriel's Overview
Auriel is a Healer who turns part of the damage done by a chosen allied Hero and by herself into area of effect healing.
Auriel's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
High sustain healing during team fights- Good peeling
- Decent waveclear
- Strong crowd control near impassable terrain
Weaknesses
Low sustain healing when out of combat- No mobility
- Weak to poke damage
- Heroic Abilities that make the target allied Hero's position exploitable
- No access to Cleanse or similar tools to remove crowd-control effects
- Unable to provide Unstoppable frames
Auriel's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Detainment Strike Build
Recommended
Auriel's Detainment Strike Build empowers your healing output,
crowd control, and damage.
Due to how 
Detainment Strike works,
this Build works best when fighting near
impassable terrain.
The fact that 
Repeated Offense at Level 4
makes Detainment Strike knock back
enemy Heroes farther away increases the chances they will be Stunned
against impassable terrain.
Thanks to Piercing Lash at Level 13,
Detainment Strike will pierce enemy Heroes,
allowing you to interrupt a Hero that is
behind another one, or to Knockback
or Stun multiple Heroes at the same time.
Since it increases your maximum Energy, 
Reservoir of Hope
at Level 16 not only makes Ray of Heaven heal more
but also deal more damage to enemy Heroes via Searing Light
at Level 1. So, when hitting enemy Heroes with it, you will gain Energy.
Sacred Sweep Build
Situational
Auriel's Sacred Sweep Build empowers your healing output, utility against Heroes relying on Basic Attacks, and damage. Choose this Build when you need to Blind enemy Heroes that have low or average Attack Range.
The increased radius provided by 
Majestic Span at Level 4
makes Sacred Sweep hit enemy Heroes
that are farther away and increases the chances you will hit them
with the inner area, and therefore Blinding them.
Since it increases your maximum Energy, Reservoir of Hope
at Level 16 not only makes Ray of Heaven heal more
but also deal more damage to enemy Heroes via Searing Light
at Level 1. So, when hitting enemy Heroes with it, you will gain Energy.
If you need to Blind enemy Heroes more often,
you can replace Searing Light at Level 1
with 
Righteous Assault.
ARAM Build
ARAMAuriel's ARAM Build empowers your healing output,
crowd control, and damage.
Due to how Detainment Strike works,
this Build works best when fighting near
impassable terrain.
The fact that Repeated Offense at Level 4
makes Detainment Strike knock back
enemy Heroes farther away increases the chances they will be Stunned
against impassable terrain.
Thanks to Piercing Lash at Level 13,
Detainment Strike will pierce enemy Heroes,
allowing you to interrupt a Hero that is
behind another one, or to Knockback
or Stun multiple Heroes at the same time.
Since it increases your maximum Energy, Reservoir of Hope
at Level 16 not only makes Ray of Heaven heal more
but also deal more damage to enemy Heroes via Searing Light
at Level 1. So, when hitting enemy Heroes with it, you will gain Energy.
Auriel's Synergies and Counters
Auriel synergizes with
To get the most value out of 
Bestow Hope,
you should pick Auriel together with a Hero who can consistently deal damage
from the distance (such as Valla).
Detainment Strike benefits from impassable terrain,
making Auriel better when paired with Heroes that can push enemy Heroes on it
(like Diablo with 
Shadow Charge)
or create it out of nowhere (for example Nazeebo
with 
Zombie Wall).
As she can fight for long periods of time without having Mana issues, Auriel likes to be in team with Heroes who can take care of multiple lanes at the same time by double soaking (like Yrel) while the rest of her team puts a lot of pressure on a single lane.
Auriel is countered by
The 4-second cooldown on Ray of Heaven
prevents it from saving allied Heroes from burst damage.
A well-timed crowd control (such as 
Wailing Arrow)
3 seconds after she cast the previous Ray of Heaven can further extend this time frame.
Heroes who have access to Knockback effects
(like Junkrat with 
Concussion Mine)
can use them to split Auriel's team so that she cannot use Ray of Heaven
on multiple Heroes at the same time.
Auriel's Heroic Abilities allows the enemy team to easily
follow up with their Abilities (for example
Entangling Roots by Malfurion).
Due to her dependency on dealing damage to get Energy for healing, Auriel does not perform that well against poke damage (such as Hanzo), especially when the enemy team has the lead.
Auriel's Maps
The fact that Auriel does not use Mana is great during the early game, therefore she is a fantastic pick on Maps where a good start can make the difference between a win and a loss (notably Braxis Holdout).
If your team has an Offlaner who can double soak (such as Xul), you can basically play Auriel on 3-lane Maps like when you are playing on 2-lane Maps, so just focus on a side lane and pressure the enemy team as much as you can.
Auriel also likes Maps where she can exploit impassable terrain
to Stun enemy Heroes with Detainment Strike.
Auriel's Tips and Tricks
- Be careful when casting
Sacred Sweep because it locks you in place for 0.625 seconds. - Try to get the most value out of your Energy by casting
Ray of Heaven on at least two allied Heroes. - A well-timed
Detainment Strike is a powerful peeling tool even if it does not trigger the Stun but only acts as a Knockback. - Quickly switch
Bestow Hope to another Hero when the current one is not able to deal damage for any reason. - Do not use
Crystal Aegis at the last moment, but use it to prevent a big chunk of damage. 
Resurrect only if the zone is safe, else you will end up giving free Experience to the enemy team and wasting your Heroic Ability, if you do not get interrupted in the first place.
Auriel's Role in the Current Meta
Auriel is a powerful Healer
when it comes to in-combat healing but she not that good when out of combat
because Bestow Hope requires herself and/or her team to deal damage
for generating the Energy needed for casting Ray of Heaven.
Changelog
- 10 Feb. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 10 Feb. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 10 Feb. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 31 Jan. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 31 Jan. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 31 Jan. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 15 Oct. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 15 Oct. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 25 Jun. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 25 Jun. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 27 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 27 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 03 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build fully revised to match new standards.
- Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
- 03 Oct. 2020 (abilities page): Ability and Strategy fully revised to match new standards.
- Tips and Tricks modified to add important tips that were missing and to remove obvious ones that were not worth mentioning.
- Ability Descriptions modified to better explain how to use Abilities effectively.
- 03 Oct. 2020 (this page): Introduction fully revised to match new standards.
- Overview rewritten to better describe the Hero.
- Strengths and Weaknesses modified to give a better idea about the Hero when being played right.
- Synergies and Counters modified to mention notable Heroes that were missing and to remove misleading Heroes that were listed.
- Maps modified to focus on the main aspects of the Hero when evaluating a Map.
- Tips and Tricks modified to list important tips that were missing before and to delete more obvious ones.
- 10 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
- Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
- 10 Apr. 2020 (this page): Introduction partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
- Role in the Current Meta modified to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
- 15 Dec. 2019 (this page): Updated Role in the Current Meta to include information on current Nexus Anomaly.
- 29 Aug. 2019 (talents page): Guide reviewed following balance patch - Updates to recommended Builds and Talent discussions.
- 29 Aug. 2019 (abilities page): Guide reviewed following balance patch.
- 29 Aug. 2019 (this page): Guide reviewed following balance patch - Updates to recommended Builds and Synergies and Counters.
- 10 May 2018 (talents page): Talent discussion updated to reflect balance patch.
- 26 Aug. 2017 (talents page): Bursting Light removed.
- 14 Aug. 2017 (talents page): Adjusted Level 7 Talent suggestions to current meta.
- 16 May 2017 (abilities page): Updated Detainment Strike's discussion to make it clear that it can proc on terrain generated by Heroes.
- 29 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Updates to Talent suggestions and strategies following Heroes 2.0 Launch event
- 29 Apr. 2017 (this page): Meta updates following Heroes 2.0 Launch event
- 11 Nov. 2016 (this page): Moved guide to new format
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Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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