Mal'Ganis Talents

Level	Choices
1	? ? ✓
4	? ✓ ?
7	? ? ✓
10	✓ ?
13	? ✘︎ ✓
16	✓ ? ?
20	✓ ✘︎ ? ?

Necrotic Embrace Build

Recommended

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ?

Level 7 ?

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

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Mal'Ganis's Necrotic Embrace Build is designed to get as much value as possible from the Hero by increasing his survivability. Talents that increase his damage contribute to this plan as well because Vampiric Touch heals Mal'Ganis based on damage dealt.

Fel Claws Build

Situational

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

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Mal'Ganis's Fel Claws Build allows you to crowd control multiple enemy Heroes when they group too much, damaging them and keeping them in place for your team to follow-up.

When you successfully Stun at least 2 Heroes, activate Blind as a Bat at Level 16 and spam Fel Claws on the same targets. This play is pretty good for securing Boss Camps when contested.

ARAM Build

ARAM

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ?

Level 7 ?

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

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Mal'Ganis's ARAM Build is designed to get as much value as possible from the Hero by increasing his survivability. Talents that increase his damage contribute to this plan as well because Vampiric Touch heals Mal'Ganis based on damage dealt.

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Winged Guard (Level 1) Mal'Ganis

Each time Necrotic Embrace hits an enemy Hero, gain 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack.

If Winged Guard has no charges, Mal'Ganis will gain 1 charge after 6 seconds.

Winged Guard is a situational Talent in general because it increases Mal'Ganis's survivability in most situations. In particular, it is especially valuable when playing against Heroes with slow but heavy-hitting Basic Attacks (such as Hanzo) and really bad when playing against Heroes with fast-hitting Basic Attacks (like Tychus).

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Vampiric Aura (Level 1) Mal'Ganis

Mal'Ganis heals for 30% of Physical Damage dealt, and nearby allied Heroes heal for 15% of Physical Damage dealt.

Vampiric Aura is a decent Talent when you cannot efficiently use Winged Guard for the reasons mentioned above. Sometimes you can also choose this Talent to help allied Heroes that use Basic Attacks a lot and that like to have additional survivability (such as Greymane).

Remember that, in order to work on allied Heroes, they should be nearby. Due to it being based on Basic Attacks, Blinds can make this Talent less effective.

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Time to Feed (Level 1) Mal'Ganis

Mal'Ganis heals for 70 (+4% per level) when damaging a nearby enemy Hero. This can occur once every 6 seconds against each enemy Hero, but is also refreshed when they are Slept by Night Rush.

Time to Feed is a strong Talent to increase Mal'Ganis's survivability when hitting enemy Heroes. Once picked, this Talent will show a mark on any nearby Hero that can trigger the bonus healing when damaged by Mal'Ganis.

The unique effect of this Talent consists of healing Mal'Ganis for a fixed amount each time he damages an enemy Hero, but only once every 6 seconds per enemy Hero. Sleeping enemy Heroes with Night Rush will refresh their mark, allowing you to heal again from the same Hero before the 6-second cooldown expires.

Hitting enemy Heroes with Carrion Swarm or even with Seeker Swarm at Level 20 will trigger this Talent as well.

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Fueled by Torment (Level 4) Mal'Ganis

While Necrotic Embrace is active, Mal'Ganis heals for 12 (+4% per level) when damage is taken and Vampiric Touch converts 20% more Hero damage into healing.

Fueled by Torment is a good Talent when playing against Heroes with fast-hitting Basic Attacks (like Tracer) and/or with fast-hitting Abilities (such as Tassadar with Psionic Storm). Use it while being damaged by those damage sources to get more value from it.

You can pick this Talent when the enemy team, in addition to having the aforementioned damage sources, does not threaten you with burst damage and therefore you do not need Might of Sargeras.

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Might of Sargeras (Level 4) Mal'Ganis

Necrotic Embrace's Armor is increased to 50.

Might of Sargeras is a strong Talent which increases the amount of Armor provided by Necrotic Embrace. This effect can be used to make Mal'Ganis quite resistant when he needs it the most.

In particular, having more Armor is great for mitigating burst damage. Against coordinated opponents, make sure to activate it before being hit by crowd-control effects: using it when at low Health will result in less damage reduction.

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Echo of Doom (Level 4) Mal'Ganis

When Necrotic Embrace expires, it explodes again for 68 (+4% per level) damage. For each enemy Hero hit, gain 5 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Necrotic Embrace by 0.75 seconds.

Does not wake Sleeping targets.

Echo of Doom is a decent Talent that makes Necrotic Embrace explode for about half its damage after 3 seconds. Each enemy Hero hit reduce its cooldown and restores Mana.

The explosion does not break Sleep, so you do not have to worry about it. You may want to pick this Talent when you really want additional damage against enemy Heroes and/or, more importantly, to compensate the lack of clear in your team.

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Black Claws (Level 7) Mal'Ganis

After Mal'Ganis hits an enemy Hero with Fel Claws, his next Basic Attack deals 60% more damage and reduces the Armor of enemy Heroes by 15 for 2 seconds.

Black Claws is a good Talent that increases your Attack Damage after every usage of Fel Claws and make them reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes by a decent amount for a few seconds.

While you will get less value from this Talent by using all charges of Fel Claws in quick succession, the Armor reduction bonus will still help you and your team deal more damage.

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Will of Tichondrius (Level 7) Mal'Ganis

Each enemy Hero hit by the first 2 slashes of Fel Claws causes the final slash to steal 1% of maximum Health from enemy Heroes, up to 4%.

If at least 4 enemy Heroes are hit with the first 2 slashes of Fel Claws, then the final slash Stuns enemies for an additional 0.5 seconds.

Will of Tichondrius is a decent Talent to pick when Mal'Ganis needs more damage for Heroes that have high maximum Health (such as Stitches) and with high Armor (like Deathwing), even if it will be hard to get full value out of it by hitting multiple enemy Heroes at the same time with a single Fel Claws to get the bonus Stun duration.

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Spreading Plague (Level 7) Mal'Ganis

After casting Night Rush, deal 33 (+4% per level) damage per second to nearby enemies. This effect lasts for 5 seconds and Basic Attacks against Heroes refresh its duration.

Does not wake Sleeping targets.

Spreading Plague is a strong Talent that gives Mal'Ganis more sustain damage, and therefore more self-sustain from Vampiric Touch.

Remember that hitting the affected Hero with a Basic Attack will refresh its duration, however, the effect provided is strong enough even if you cannot refresh it multiple times.

If you have this Talent, you can use Night Rush for clearing Minions when necessary, but keep an eye on your positioning and Mana when doing so.

In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.

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Carrion Swarm (Level 10) Mal'Ganis

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 100 seconds

After 1 second, disperse into an Invulnerable swarm of bats for 3 seconds, dealing 120 (+4% per level) damage per second to enemies.

Vampiric Touch heals for 75% of Carrion Swarm's damage to Heroes.

Carrion Swarm is the preferred choice because of two main reasons: it has a shorter cast time compared to Dark Conversion and it can be cast while moving, meaning that knockback effects (say Raynor with Penetrating Round) and other daze effects will not interrupt it.

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Dark Conversion (Level 10) Mal'Ganis

• Mana: 60
• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Channel on an enemy Hero for 0.75 seconds, then swap Health percentages with the target over 3 seconds.

Dark Conversion is situational for when there is an urgent need of additional damage, usually because the enemy team has a Hero with high maximum Health (like Stitches) without ways to mitigate Spell Damage as this Ability does not deal percent-based damage despite being based on maximum Health.

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Deep Sleep (Level 13) Mal'Ganis

Increase Night Rush's Sleep duration by 0.75 seconds and its Movement Speed bonus by 10%.

Deep Sleep is a situational Talent that can be used to better close the gap with the enemy Heroes you want to engage.

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The Night Beckons (Level 13) Mal'Ganis

Basic Attacks deal 200% bonus damage to Sleeping enemies. After Night Rush's Sleep ends, targets are Slowed by 30% for 3 seconds.

The Night Beckons is a weak Talent because, while it can be used to apply a decent Slow to all enemy Heroes, it competes with Talents that actually help Mal'Ganis to reach the enemy Heroes in the first place, something that is way more important for him.

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Blood Rush (Level 13) Mal'Ganis

When Mal'Ganis is healed by a Hero, he gains 1% Movement Speed for 6 seconds, up to 15%.

Blood Rush is a strong Talent in most if not all matches because it provides Mal'Ganis more mobility, which is quite noticeable and useful when it comes to engaging enemy Heroes or escaping dangerous situations. In addition to that, it has synergy with Spreading Plague at Level 7 and Carrion Swarm at Level 10.

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Plague Bats (Level 16) Mal'Ganis

Necrotic Embrace unleashes a wave of bats in front of Mal'Ganis, dealing 81 (+4% per level) damage.

Plague Bats is a strong Talent that increases his burst damage by a solid amount. Considering that it deals damage only in front of Mal'Ganis, remember to change his orientation before using it.

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Frenzied Assault (Level 16) Mal'Ganis

Basic Attacks against Heroes with a higher Health percentage heal for an additional 50% of damage dealt.

Basic Attacks against Heroes with a lower Health percentage grant 35% Attack Speed for 3 seconds.

Frenzied Assault is a good Talent that gives Mal'Ganis a fair amount of Attack Speed when hitting enemy Heroes who have a lower Health percentage than him or makes his Basic Attack heal him for an additional 50% of the damage dealt when hitting enemy Heroes who have a higher Health percentage than him.

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Blind as a Bat (Level 16) Mal'Ganis

• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Activate to erupt with blind rage, removing the cooldown and Mana cost of Fel Claws, but losing all vision. Lasts 6 seconds.

Enemy Heroes hit by the final slash of Fel Claws reduces the cooldown of this Ability by 4 seconds.

Blind as a Bat is a decent Talent that allows Mal'Ganis to deal an insane amount of area of effect damage, however, not being able to see anything puts him at a significant disadvantage because he will not be able to reliably hit enemy Heroes or to dodge enemy Abilities when needed.

While it is generally not a good Talent, we find this Talent usable on Maps that feature various choke points and narrow corridors (such as Cursed Hollow). In case you opted for this Talent, remember that it can also be used to escape!

The cooldown reduction is welcome but not that useful because you will have to wait for your Heroic Ability to come off cooldown before engaging anyways, however, it may give you some value if enemy Heroes tend to group too much.

To get the most out of this Talent, combine it with Will of Tichondrius at Level 7. Catch 2 Heroes with the final slash of Fel Claws and then activate Blind as a Bat to repeatedly hit them.

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Seeker Swarm (Level 20) Mal'Ganis

Upon expiring, Carrion Swarm's bats seek nearby enemy Heroes, dealing 132 (+4% per level) damage and Sleeping them for 2.5 seconds.

Seeker Swarm is a great upgrade to the already very powerful Carrion Swarm because it not only provides additional area of effect damage, but also allows Mal'Ganis to set up a powerful engage.

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Wrath of Nathreza (Level 20) Mal'Ganis

Enemy Heroes near the target suffer 75% of the transferred Health as damage over 3 seconds.

Does not benefit from Vampiric Touch.

Wrath of Nathreza is considered a bad choice because it counts on the enemy team to misplay by having multiple Heroes one near the other in the same location, without forgetting that Dark Conversion is also easy to interrupt.

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Vanquish the Weak (Level 20) Mal'Ganis

Damage from Fel Claws and Basic Attacks Slows enemies by 25% for 1.5 seconds, and Vampiric Touch converts 10% more damage into healing versus Slowed Heroes.

Vanquish the Weak is a decent alternative in case you need a bit more power against melee Heroes, however, it is rarely the choice because the other options are usually more interesting and more useful.

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Alone in the Dark (Level 20) Mal'Ganis

Reduce the cooldown of Night Rush by 4 seconds. Enemy Heroes put to Sleep by Night Rush have their vision greatly reduced during the Sleep and for 2 seconds after.

Alone in the Dark is a situational Talent that can make the life harder for all enemy Heroes that get caught by Night Rush, effectively increasing the crowd control that it provides. The cooldown reduction helps you use it twice in a single team fight.