Hanzo Build Guide “Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau!”

Scatter Arrow Build focuses on Talents that improve Scatter Arrow, transforming it into your primary Ability. Of the 3 builds, this one is the hardest to use, and an inexperienced Hanzo will deal much less consistent Hero damage with it. However, this build can perform well if you really want a playstyle focused around Scatter Arrow. This build works best on maps that have narrow corridors, where Scatter Arrow's ricochets are more likely to hit enemies.

Grab Simple Geometry at Level 1 to improve Scatter Arrow once you complete the quest. Serrated Arrows will only be good at Battlefield of Eternity or Hanamura Temple. Explosive Arrows has better waveclear than Serrated Arrows; pick it up at Level 4, if you are not in one of the 2 mentioned maps. Furthermore, Ignore All Distractions is an excellent choice on Volskaya Foundry.

This build really comes online at Level 16. We recommend choosing Giant Slayer, as it greatly improves your burst damage with Scatter Arrow and your sustained damage with Basic Attacks. However, Piercing Arrows is also a good option. It allows Scatter Arrow to be shot into terrain through an enemy Hero. This opens up many more angles for Scatter Arrow, and makes it much harder for enemies to prevent it from colliding with terrain. Piercing Arrows also allows Explosive Arrows to explode twice with each Storm Bow arrow, greatly improving your waveclear, being relevant in maps such as Infernal Shrines or Tomb of the Spider Queen.

At Level 10, you should usually take Dragon's Arrow. It gives you some much needed crowd control, which can be used to turn a team fight, or to set up and secure kills. Dragonstrike can also work with this build, but requires your team to have some way to set up a wombo-combo. The Dragon Awakens makes it possible to reset Dragonstrike quickly enough to cast it more than once in a team fight after Level 20.

The Basic Attack Build takes Talents that dramatically improve Hanzo's sustained damage. As with any ranged Basic Attack strategy, you want to position yourself near maximum range while delivering Basic Attacks to enemy Heroes.

Redemption significantly increases Hanzo's otherwise sluggish attack speed. This is important for a playstyle centered around Basic Attacks, and works well with the other Talents you will be taking. Ignore All Distractions serves as the primary PvE tool for this build. Because it causes your Basic Attacks to instantly kill Minions, it will get more value when used on Minions with more Health (like melee minions or catapults). Remember that it increases your Basic Attack range each time you Basic Attack a Minion; use this range to harass nearby enemy Heroes. This can be very useful while laning.

Sharpened Arrowheads is an excellent way to enhance your damage, and will increase your team's damage as well. Each consecutive Basic Attack or Storm Bow arrow against an Enemy Hero will reduce their armor for several seconds. Never Outmatched will also be a good choice, but is much harder to use, and we only recommend it for very experienced Hanzo players. Giant Slayer works very well against enemy Tanks with large health pools. If the enemy frontline is lacking and you need finishing power against squishy enemy Heroes, Flawless Technique can be a good choice instead.

The Storm Bow Build has excellent poke damage, good waveclear, and very long range. This build requires accurate and successful Storm Bow hits in order to be effective. It will be more difficult to use against highly mobile Heroes, as they are likely to avoid skillshots. This build should never be used against Abathur; the slug can easily prevent you from ever completing Target Practice.

Explosive Arrows enhances your waveclear and gives you a stronger presence in lanes; you can easily hit enemies with explosions if they position themselves near their Minions. The Dragon Hungers is a good choice at Level 7, as it will always be useful. However, Never Outmatched adds more damage overall, but requires much more experience to use.

Piercing Arrows has several synergies with the rest of the Talents in the build. When you pair Explosive Arrows with Piercing Arrows, it becomes possible to cause two explosions with each Storm Bow arrow. There must be sufficient space between Minions for this to occur, but it allows you to clear Minion waves very quickly during the late game. Piercing Arrows also enables you to hit Heroes near their Minions with Storm Bow and an explosion, effectively dealing double damage to them. Piercing Arrows also has synergy with Ninja Assassin, because you can reset Natural Agility's much faster by hitting 2 heroes with Storm Bow. However, Flawless Technique can also be picked at Level 16 as an option when enemy team has weak frontline.