Yrel Abilities and Strategy
Welcome to our Abilities page for Yrel. Here, we give you an overview of every ability in Yrel's kit. For each of them, we explain what it does, how to best use it, and how it works in combination with Yrel's other abilities. We also give you strategy tips to play Yrel efficiently.
Yrel's Tips and Tricks
- Ardent Defender is a great defensive tool against enemy burst damage. That being said, feel free to use the Ability after dropping down to 50% Health instead of waiting until the last moment. This ensures you can stay fighting rather than having to withdraw from combat.
- Every of Yrel's Basic Abilities has a wind-up time. Make sure to charge up Basic Abilities in time when you need to gain maximum value off them in fights.
- Divine Purpose can be used to instantly cast an Ability with maximum value. Use it with Vindication to gain an instant heal, with Righteous Hammer to immediately knock enemies back, and with Avenging Wrath to engage or disenage at once.
- Dauntless greatly increases Yrel's survivability; use your Abilities within 2 seconds between each other in order to not lose the extra Armor from the Talent.
Divine Purpose (Trait)
- Cooldown: 8 seconds
Activate to instantly charge Yrel's next Basic Ability at no mana cost. Divine Purpose's cooldown is reset when Yrel casts a Heroic ability.
Passive: Yrel's Basic Abilities charge up over 1.5 seconds, increasing in effectiveness, but reducing Yrel's Movement Speed by 25%.
Divine Purpose comes with a short 8-second cooldown and upon activation, it allows Yrel to instantly cast her next Basic Ability. This can be absolutely crucial to enhancing her combat performance during team fights.
Depending on which situation Yrel finds herself in, she may have to consider triggering a different Basic Ability. Using Divine Purpose and Vindication provides a considerable amount of healing and waveclear. Chaining it with Righteous Hammer can get her out of dangerous situations or help her allies get kills. Last but not least, Avenging Wrath can be immediately used to either engage a fight swiftly or get Yrel to safety.
It is important to note that using a Heroic Ability resets Divine Purpose's cooldown. After using an empowered Avenging Wrath, Yrel can use a Heroic Ability to instantly use an empowered Righteous Hammer, stunning a squishy Hero to your team. However, this should only be done if Yrel's player is extremely confident that it will result in a kill, as losing your Heroic Ability may be very impactful.
Vindication
- Cooldown: 6 seconds
Unleash holy energy around Yrel, dealing 42 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies and healing her for 96 (+4% per level).
Charging up this Ability increases its damage up to 140 (+4% per level), and healing up to 320 (+4% per level).
Just like Yrel's other Basic Abilities, Vindication comes with a channel animation. The longer Yrel charges the ability, the more powerful it becomes. This influences the amount of damage and healing she can get out of this ability. Vindication is Yrel's standard source of waveclear, however, keep in mind that she does not need to hit an enemy to receive the healing it provides. As such, cast Vindication off-combat to replenish your health pool.
Rightous Hammer
- Cooldown: 6 seconds
Swing Yrel's hammer, dealing 38 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in front of her and knocking them away.
Charging up this Ability increases its knockback distance, and damage up to 125 (+4% per level). Enemies hit at maximum charge are Stunned for 0.75 seconds.
Righteous Hammer provides a useful Knockback effect that can be used both offensively and defensively. If used offensively, Yrel can thrust enemies towards her allies and enable an easy takedown. If used defensively, she can keep enemies at a distance to allow your allies escape. Keep in mind that this ability only comes with a short stun if charged up to the maximum.
Avenging Wrath
- Cooldown: 6 seconds
Leap to a location, dealing 225 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in an area and Slowing them by 50% for 1 second.
Charging up this Ability increases its range.
Avenging Wrath is Yrel's main gap-closer which allows her to leap over a short distance. Upon impact, enemies are damaged and slowed, which makes it a strong initiation ability. If combined with Divine Purpose, Yrel can launch surprise attacks or get herself out of an otherwise hopeless situation.
Be aware that roots will cancel Avenging Wrath during channel or jump, while Knockbacks will only interrupt it if they affect Yrel during the cast. It is better to only start channeling it when enemies cannot control you, by either walking backwards or waiting for them to waste their Cooldowns.
Ardent Defender
In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.
- Heroic
- Mana: 80
- Cooldown: 120 seconds
Surround Yrel in a barrier for 3 seconds, absorbing all damage taken and healing her for 50% of the damage received.
Ardent Defender is the ultimate defensive ability available for Yrel. It makes her Invulnerable, however, unlike Uther's Divine Shield, Yrel remains targetable for the enemy team. The more damage she absorbs while Ardent Defender is active, the more healing she receives. Use this ability to shut down hard-hitting abilities, such as Jaina's Ring of Frost or Kael'thas's Pyroblast and strike back with replenished health. It is absolutely worth mentioning that Ardent Defender should usually be used while Yrel is still at 50% of her health or higher, in order to guarantee her participation during a team fight once the ability has expired. If used while Yrel is on the brink of death, it will usually result in her retreating anyway.
Sacred Ground
In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.
- Heroic
- Mana: 40
- Cooldown: 40 seconds
Yrel sanctifies the ground around her, gaining 50 Armor until she leaves the area.
Sacred Ground Is an underwhelming Heroic Ability, because it does not stack armor with Dauntless. It also greatly reduces Yrel's options during a teamfight, considering you should not move outside of the area. Sacred Ground can be easily canceled with Displacements as well, by pushing Yrel outside of its area. We do not recommend Sacred Ground because of how good and versatile Ardent Defender is.
Changelog
- 09 Feb. 2022: Divine Purpose's description updated after recent balance patch.
- 22 Apr. 2020: Updated the Abilities section.
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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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