Thrall Build Guide “The Elements will destroy you!”

Last updated on Mar 30, 2022 at 16:00 by Elitesparkle 33 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for Thrall, a Bruiser 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.

1.

Thrall's Overview

Thrall is a durable Bruiser with extraordinary burst damage potential in close combat and a kit that provides his team powerful crowd control Abilities.

2.

Thrall's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
X Weaknesses
3.

Thrall's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Feral Spirit Build

Recommended
Level 1 Rolling Thunder Icon
Level 4 Mana Tide Icon Frostwolf Pack Icon ?
Level 7 Ancestral Wrath Icon
Level 10 Earthquake Icon Sundering Icon ?
Level 13 Frostwolf's Grace Icon Spirit Shield Icon ?
Level 16 Alpha Wolf Icon
Level 20 Earthen Shields Icon Wind Rush Icon ?

Thrall's Feral Spirit Build allows him to take down melee Heroes more easily with the help of Alpha Wolf Icon Alpha Wolf at Level 16.

Choose this Build when you want to burst down the enemy frontline with the help of percent-based damage.

Chain Lightning Build

Situational
Level 1 Echo of the Elements Icon Crash Lightning Icon ?
Level 4 Mana Tide Icon
Level 7 Ancestral Wrath Icon
Level 10 Earthquake Icon Sundering Icon ?
Level 13 Frostwolf's Grace Icon Spirit Shield Icon ?
Level 16 Thunderstorm Icon
Level 20 Earthen Shields Icon Wind Rush Icon ?

Thrall's Chain Lightning Build allows him to safely deal poke damage to enemy Heroes before the real team fight starts. Thunderstorm Icon Thunderstorm at Level 16 greatly empowers this kind of playstyle.

Choose this Build when the enemy team suffers against poke damage because they do not have a good Healer for that or they completely lack one.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Crash Lightning Icon
Level 4 Mana Tide Icon Frostwolf Pack Icon ?
Level 7 Ancestral Wrath Icon
Level 10 Earthquake Icon Sundering Icon ?
Level 13 Frostwolf's Grace Icon Spirit Shield Icon ?
Level 16 Thunderstorm Icon
Level 20 Earthen Shields Icon Wind Rush Icon ?

Thrall's ARAM Build allows him to constantly deal a considerable amount of poke damage to enemy Heroes when they are grouped in the same area, especially in the late game.

The true power of this Build gets unleashed only after completing Crash Lightning Icon Crash Lightning at Level 1 and after picking and stacking Thunderstorm Icon Thunderstorm at Level 16.

4.

Thrall's Synergies and Counters

V Thrall synergizes with

Thrall's Earthquake Icon Earthquake synergizes really well with other strong area of effect Abilities who benefit from the Slow to connect on enemy Heroes (such as Ring of Frost Icon Ring of Frost by Jaina), to deal bonus damage to them (for example Purification Salvo Icon Purification Salvo by Fenix), or to stop their retreat and engage them with powerful buffs for your team (for example Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust by Rehgar).

X Thrall is countered by

Thrall suffers against Heroes who can kite (such as Lunara) as a consequence of him lacking mobility, even if he can overcome it by using his Heroic Abilities to engage. Well-timed Blind effects (like Blinding Wind Icon Blinding Wind by Li Li) will annoy him for sure, so try to play around them by holding your Windfury Icon Windfury when they are debuffing you. Like most Heroes, he also suffers against crowd control followed by burst damage (for example Kael'thas).

5.

Thrall's Maps

Thrall's stronger maps
Battlefield of Eternity Blackheart's Bay Braxis Holdout Dragon Shire Hanamura Temple Sky Temple Volskaya Foundry
Thrall's average maps
Alterac Pass Cursed Hollow Garden of Terror Infernal Shrines Towers of Doom Warhead Junction
Thrall's weaker maps
Tomb of the Spider Queen

Thanks to his strong self-sustain, Thrall excels when played as Offlaner on Maps where this Role has more value than usual (for example Braxis Holdout); however, he can also be played in the 4-man using the Crash Lightning Build on Maps where team fights tend to last longer than usual (such as Volskaya Foundry). Due to his low waveclear, he is average on Maps where it is common to double soak (like Towers of Doom) but can compensate for it thanks to his team fight power and he suffers on Maps where he cannot benefit from his team fight power to compensate for that weakness (only Tomb of the Spider Queen).

6.

Thrall's Tips and Tricks

7.

Thrall's Role in the Current Meta

Bruisers like Thrall are capable of initiating team fights, which makes them a powerful Hero in many games.

Even if some players like to play him as Offlaner, the best way to play Thrall in the current metagame is not that, but as second Assassin in the 4-man group.

While melee Heroes are in a risky position during team fights, fortunately for Thrall, he can become quite durable as the game goes thanks to strong defensive Talents (such as Ancestral Wrath Icon Ancestral Wrath at Level 7 and Frostwolf's Grace Icon Frostwolf's Grace at Level 13). If you position properly and do not go too far from your backline, your Healer will help you survive for longer as well.

8.

Changelog

  • 30 Mar. 2022 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 30 Mar. 2022 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 30 Mar. 2022 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 12 Mar. 2022 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
  • 12 Mar. 2022 (this page): ARAM Build added.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 06 Jul. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 06 Jul. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 25 Feb. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
  • 01 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 01 Dec. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 01 Dec. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 05 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 05 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 25 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build updated to reflect the current metagame.
  • 25 Jun. 2020 (this page): Introduction updated to reflect the current metagame.
  • 13 May 2020 (talents page): Talent Build fully 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.
  • 13 May 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.
  • 13 May 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.
    • Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
    • 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.
    • Role in the Current Meta modified to reflect the current metagame and to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
  • 04 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
  • 04 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.
  • 23 Jan. 2020 (talents page): Updated Thrall's Solo Lane Build. Rolling Thunder is now Recommended.
  • 19 Dec. 2019 (talents page): Updated Rolling Thunder's decription and labelled it Situational for the time being until further play testing has been done.
  • 16 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added the current Anomaly (Experience Globes) to the guide.
  • 02 Sep. 2019 (talents page): Updated Thrall's Talent Builds and general Talents section to more precisely reflect the current state of the game.
  • 02 Sep. 2019 (abilities page): Updated Thrall's abilities.
  • 02 Sep. 2019 (this page): Updated Thrall's introduction page.
  • 10 May 2018 (talents page): Changed Rolling Thunder from Not Recommended to Recommended and created the Rolling Thunder Build.
  • 08 May 2018 (talents page): Changed Crash Lightning from Recommended to Situational.
  • 02 Mar. 2018 (talents page): Greatly updated Thrall's Talent Builds and their descriptions. Re-evaluated several talents in accordance with the new Crash Lightning Build.
  • 02 Mar. 2018 (this page): Adjusted Thrall's introduction according to the recent guide update.
  • 24 Oct. 2017 (this page): Updated Volskaya Foundry ranking and Feral Spirit build.
  • 18 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Changed and updated Worldbreaker's description.
  • 13 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Complete revamp of the page, following Thrall's rework in Malthael's patch.
  • 13 Jun. 2017 (abilities page): Updated descriptions to account for Thrall's rework in Malthael's patch.
  • 12 May 2017 (talents page): Updated Stonewolves' and Tempest Fury's talent descriptions.
  • 22 Dec. 2016 (this page): Moved Thrall guide to the new format.
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