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Sylvanas Build Guide “Let none survive!”
Welcome to our guide for Sylvanas, a Ranged Assassin 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.
Sylvanas's Overview
Sylvanas is a mobile Ranged Assassin. Her unique ability to
Stun Structures through 
Black Arrows and several Map control-oriented
Talent choices reward players with a strong macro-oriented approach to the
game. Her mediocre damage output must be made up for with decisive kills
however, lest she may end up overwhelmed in long team fights.
Sylvanas's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Improves the survivability of certain Map Objectives through 
Black Arrows- Effective waveclear with
Unstable Poison - Versatile and powerful Heroic Ability choices
- Versatile builds with strong single target or AoE damage, mobility, self-sustain and burst or sustained damage
- Provides utility through armor reduction and crowd control tools
Weaknesses
Weak early game- Inability to deal selective damage; often stuck having to target what is closest
- Low maximum Health; vulnerable to other, more mobile Assassins
Sylvanas's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Balanced Build
Recommended
This build is Sylvanas' most consistent one, offering balanced burst
and sustained damage through 
Festering Wounds
and Remorseless. It also enables effective kiting and resistance to crowd control,
thanks to Overwhelming Affliction and 
Will of the Forsaken.
While this build offers consistency, other specialized builds may excel in specific situations. Consider your team composition and enemy lineup when choosing it.
Burst Build
Situational
This build focuses on maximizing burst damage potential.
At Level 13, choose between Windrunner and
Cold Embrace. Cold Embrace is better when targeting melee units
to maintain safe positioning. For ranged targets, select Windrunner, as you will need
to use the second Haunting Wave to reach them.
While 
Wailing Arrow is a great part of your burst
damage, 
Mind Control should not be ignored as an alternative
Heroic Ability. Consider picking Mind Control if your main target has no
mobility and the enemy team lacks cleanse
to counter it. This can create several opportunities to pick off enemies for your team.
Sustained Damage Build
SituationalThis Sustained Damage Build utilizes several Talents to accelerate or facilitate
the cooldown recovery of Shadow Dagger. By constantly
using this ability, Sylvanas can constantly deal high amounts of damage to all enemies
during fights.
This build is particularly effective against enemy compositions with low mobility,
as these can be easily kited or hit by Mind Control.
The primary Heroic choice for this Build is Mind Control. It
instantly applies all 3 Banshee's Curse Stacks while also rendering an enemy 100% vulnerable
to your attacks. This synergy might provide a full reset on Shadow Dagger
and marks other enemies due to Remorseless.
Aram Build
ARAMThis build focuses on maximizing damage through Unfurling Shadows.
The most effective way to use it is to start fights using Haunting Wave
in combination with Shadow Dagger. Shadow Dagger reaches the
enemy first, followed by Haunting Wave, which spreads the poison and applies 3 Banshee's
Cursed stacks to each enemy hit. As long as Haunting Wave hits several enemies,
Sylvanas may accumulate 12, 18, or up to 30 stacks in a single cast.
Sylvanas's Synergies and Counters
Sylvanas synergizes with
Sylvanas is a rather general pick, in that she works well with the vast
majority of team composition. She does, however, excel when picked along
other high-damage mobile ranged damage dealers that can capitalise on
Black Arrows, Heroes that can provide area of effect crowd control,
or with other strong split pushers to create an immense amount of
Map pressure.
Sylvanas is countered by
As a fragile backline Hero, Sylvanas struggles against anything that
can either burst her down or match the mobility
provided by Haunting Wave.
Stealthed Heroes are particularly threatening to her, as they generally
highly limit her ability to safely split-push.
Sylvanas's Maps
Sylvanas is an effective pick on all Maps that feature Objectives that
provide you with a pushing force, as Black Arrows's
Structure disabling effect greatly increases the longevity and effectiveness
of such Objectives. Unstable Poison, Mercenary Queen, and 
Possession
make her effective at waveclearing, claiming Mercenary Camps, and split pushing
respectively, allowing her to be versatile.
Sylvanas's Tips and Tricks
Withering Fire is extremely cheap; use it as often as possible if there are no enemy Heroes around.- Use Shadow Dagger whenever it is available, but see to have it affect as many enemies as possible.
- Without
Festering Wounds, Haunting Wave should almost exclusively be used only for its mobility, as it deals minimal damage. - Hold on to
Wailing Arrow until you can hit many opponents or for when you need to prevent a Hero from saving another. - Use
Mind Control to move a key target away from their team, and into yours. - Black Arrows allows you to push down Structures without Minions; exploit this especially with allies and vehicles.
Sylvanas's Role in the Current Meta
Sylvanas offers a unique combination of traits: safe and effective waveclear
through Unstable Poison, the ability
to disable Structures with Black Arrows,
and strong Tank-busting potential through a combination of
Shadow Dagger-related Talents. As such, she is a powerful "surprise" late-pick
for team compositions seeking to rapidly kill the first enemy in sight,
and specifically on Maps that feature Objectives that are likely to take
damage from Structures, such as Dragon Shire.
Sylvanas should be picked along a burst damage-oriented Assassin,
such as Jaina, and a Tank who is able to reliably
apply hard crowd control on the
intended kill target, such as Diablo or E.T.C.. Wailing Arrow is treated as
one of the most powerful team fighting Heroic Ability as it prevents Healers
from assisting said kill target. Depending on your team's burst damage potential
however, Mind Control may also work as an isolation tool.
Changelog
- 29 Jan. 2025 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 29 Jan. 2025 (abilities page): Guide update to ensure meta relevance.
- 29 Jan. 2025 (this page): Guide updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 22 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Description updated for Dark Lady's Call.
- 07 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Talent builds updated slightly.
- 30 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Talent recommendations and builds updated to better reflect current metagame state. Again.
- 13 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Talent recommendations and builds updated to better reflect current metagame state.
- 27 Dec. 2018 (talents page): Talent discussion added and further updated; new build added.
- 19 Dec. 2018 (abilities page): Updated for the latest rework.
- 17 Dec. 2018 (talents page): Build further updated following Sylvanas rework patch. Talent descriptions incoming.
- 17 Dec. 2018 (this page): Guide updated following Sylvanas rework patch.
- 12 Dec. 2018 (talents page): Build updated following Sylvanas rework patch.
- 14 Jan. 2018 (talents page): Updated Tier 3 Talent discussion. Updated Shadow Dagger build.
- 26 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Updated the Will of the Forsaken discussion.
- 08 Jan. 2017 (this page): Guide updated for Zul'jin's patch and moved to the new format.
More Ranged Assassin Guides
Derenash has been playing Heroes of the Storm since 2015 and has achieved Grandmaster in multiple seasons, peaking at Top 1 in Season 3 and 4 of 2018. He participated in the HGC Copa America in 2018 where his team had a strong victory. He is passionate about teaching others about the game, and streams often on Twitch in Portuguese, and you can find him in Wind Striders' Discord as well where he is happy to answer any questions in English or Portuguese.
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