Alarak Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Alarak. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Alarak's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Alarak's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
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1 |
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4 |
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7 |
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10 |
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13 |
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16 |
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20 |
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Alarak's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Chaos Reigns Build
Talent calculator »The Chaos Reigns Build is made up of Talents that focus on increasing the
reliability and damage of Discord Strike as much as possible. Use
Discord Strike to follow-up
Telekinesis whenever you can do so safely.
Sustaining Power improves Alarak's self-sustain enough
to give him an advantage over most lane opponents. Alternatively,
Ruthless Momentum can give you many more opportunities to
displace enemy Heroes with Telekinesis.
Applied Force allows you
to pull enemy Heroes into Discord Strike from a safer distance, but can be
exchanged situationally.
Hindered Motion will help to proc
Mocking Strikes later, and can also help you land Discord Strike while you are
still practicing Alarak's combo. Use Lightning Surge as often as you can to
poke enemies. Once they are low on Health, you can secure kills with
Telekinesis and Discord Strike. At Level 20 you can take
Hasty Bargain
if you have a lot of Sadism, or take
Deadly Charge if you do not.
Lightning Surge Build
Talent calculator »The Lightning Surge Build is exceptionally good at long range poke, especially
against melee heavy team compositions. It is very easy to play, as you simply
use Lightning Surge every time it is available. Target enemy Heroes behind the enemy frontline
whenever possible, to damage as many Heroes with each cast as possible. When
you finish stacking Extended Lightning, you will be able to slow
enemies who are hit by the center of the beam.
Negatively Charged can
be stacked without limit, and is not lost on death.
Lightning Barrage
gives Lightning Surge a free second cast if an enemy Hero is hit by the center
of the beam. With
Hasty Bargain and clever positioning, you can
cast Lightning Surge up to 4 times in quick succession. It is very important to
focus on hitting enemy Heroes with the center of Lightning Surge's beam, as
many of your Talent investments involve this mechanic.
Level 1 Talents for Alarak


Reduce the Mana cost of Telekinesis from 30 to 20. Telekinesis's cooldown recharges 75% faster while above 80% Health.


Increase the healing received from damaging Heroes with Lightning Surge by 40%.


Reduce Sadism by 10%.
Quest: Hit Heroes with the center of Lightning Surge.
Reward: After hitting 5 Heroes, increase Lightning Surge's range by 20%.
Reward: After hitting 15 Heroes, Lightning Surge's center also Slows enemies by 40% for 2 seconds.
Reward: After hitting 3 Heroes with the center of a single cast, increase Sadism by 10% and instantly gain all other Rewards.
Discussion
Ruthless Momentum can greatly reduce the cooldown of Telekinesis,
as long as you remain near full Health. This Talent will be at its best when
laning with allies during the early game, because your healer can help to make
sure you stay near full Health. Extended Lightning will get even more value in
the same scenario, unless your team composition is such that it can follow up
on successful combos with additional crowd control.
Sustaining Power adds a significant amount of healing to Lightning Surge,
but this comes at the cost of the increased range that
Extended Lightning
provides. Sustaining Power is a great choice when Alarak is going to be played
in a solo-lane; the self-sustain it provides can help
you outlast your opponent.
Extended Lightning is made up of three quests which enhance
Lightning Surge. The first quest increases the range of Lightning Surge,
allowing you to poke from much safer positions. It will give
you more opportunities to find targets behind enemy Heroes, which will allow
you to stack other Lightning Surge-related quests more easily. The additional
range will also allow you to heal with Lightning Surge more safely. This quest
can usually be completed in the opening team fight, if there
is one. The second quest adds a slow to enemies hit by the center of Lightning
Surge. This can be very powerful in team fights and as a follow-up to
Telekinesis and Discord Strike. The slow can also be used to set up your combo,
as the slowed enemies will be much easier to hit. The third quest gives a 10%
Sadism bonus; this essentially refunds Extended Lightning's initial Sadism
penalty.
Level 4 Talents for Alarak


Quest: Hit Heroes with Discord Strike.
Reward: After hitting 15 Heroes, increase Discord Strike's damage by 60.
Reward: After hitting 2 Heroes with a single Discord Strike, increase its damage by 60.
Reward: After hitting 3 Heroes with a single Discord Strike, increase its damage by 100 and instantly gain all other Rewards.


Increase the Lightning Surge damage bonus to enemies between Alarak and his victim to 150%.
Repeatable Quest: Each Hero hit by the center of Lightning Surge permanently increases the damage bonus by 4%.


Heroes hit with 3 of Alarak's Abilities within 2 seconds take an additional 61 (+4% per level) damage and increase Sadism by 2%, stacking up to 20%.
Sadism gained from Show of Force is lost on death.
Discussion
Chaos Reigns is a great Talent that increases
Discord Strike's damage when various quests are completed. Discord Strike
should be used quite often, so this Talent will help increase damage with most
builds. All three quests can be completed instantly by hitting three or more
Heroes with a single Discord Strike. This quest can be very easy against
Heroes who may have multiple bodies in a small area, like Samuro.
Negatively Charged can greatly increase your damage
in team fights when using a Lightning Surge poke focused playstyle. Make sure
to hit enemies between you and your target in order to get value. The bonus
damage only applies to Lightning Surge's center area, so it is best to pair
this Talent with
Extended Lightning. This quest's stacks
are not lost if Alarak dies.
Show of Force is a very satisfying Talent that promotes
landing all three Basic Abilities in quick succession. It is a lot of fun, and
can make practicing Alarak's combo entertaining. However, Alarak's Abilities
should not always be used in quick succession. It can be better to use them
individually for things like dismounting enemies, repositioning yourself, or
pushing enemies away from one of your allies. This Talent can add bonus damage
and Sadism, but you may find yourself holding Abilities to combo
with when you would otherwise use them for utility. Additionally, Show of Force
does not increase waveclear, but Chaos Reigns and Negatively Charged do. If you
are just picking Alarak up and need to practice his combo, or if you are so
good at him that you rarely miss a combo, take this Talent. If your team
lacks waveclear or if you want slightly more reliable Talents, one of the other
options at this Level may be better.
Level 7 Talents for Alarak


Increase Discord Strike's Silence duration by 0.75 seconds.


Telekinesis Slows enemies by 25% for 3 seconds.


Reduce Sadism by 10%, but Telekinesis pushes 20% further and has 20% increased range.
Discussion
Dissonance increases the silence duration of Discord Strike.
This can be useful for locking down Heroes who have escapes, as they will be
unable to cast them for an additional amount of time. This is especially
useful against Warriors, who usually need to cast Abilities to enhance their
survivability. This Talent has the added benefit of not reducing Sadism.
Hindered Motion adds a slow to Telekinesis, which can
be useful if you are experiencing difficulty landing Discord Strike.
Applied Force greatly increases the impact of
Telekinesis, and makes landing the Telekinesis into Discord Strike combo much
easier. At the same time it increases the effects of the other uses of
Telekinesis, including peel and escape. This Talent generally has the greatest
impact of the Talents in this tier; it allows Alarak to pull enemies
out of position from a safer distance.
Level 10 Talents for Alarak


- Cooldown: 45 seconds
After channeling, Alarak charges forward dealing 200 (+4% per level) damage to all enemies in his path. Distance is increased based on the amount of time channeled, up to 1.5 seconds.
Issuing a Move order while this is channeling will cancel it at no cost. Taking damage will interrupt the channeling.


- Mana: 50
- Cooldown: 30 seconds
Alarak targets an area and channels for 1 second, becoming Protected and Unstoppable. After, if he took damage from an enemy Hero, he sends a shockwave that deals 275 (+4% per level) damage.
Discussion
Deadly Charge can deal massive damage to several enemy Heroes, or deal
fatal damage to a low health enemy who is fleeing a team fight. You will be
fully committed after your charge, so make sure your team is ready before you
charge in. If your team does not want to commit to a fight, you may cancel the
channel at any time. Attempting to channel Deadly Charge while inside or
behind an enemy Minion wave will not work, as the Minions will attack you and
cancel your channel. Deadly Charge is more risky than Counter Strike, because
its defensive uses are limited.
Counter-Strike is a great Heroic option that can be used to save Alarak from
high damage Abilities, hard crowd control, or simply to deal burst damage
during a fight. When using Counter-Strike primarily as a damage source, enemy
damage over time effects will proc the strike very reliably. You will need to
think ahead and counter an enemy attack, which is much different than the hard
engage you get from
Deadly Charge. It is generally recommended
over Deadly Charge due to the control and versatility it provides.
Level 13 Talents for Alarak


Basic Attacks against Heroes increase Sadism by 2% stacking up to 40%.
Sadism gained from Blade of the Highlord is lost on death.


Increase Sadism by 10% any time an allied Hero dies, up to 40%.
Sadism gained from Pure Malice is lost on death.


- Cooldown: 300 seconds
Activate to mark an enemy Hero for 300 seconds.
Hitting the marked Hero with Discord Strike increases Sadism by 3%. Killing the marked Hero increases Sadism by 5% and lowers the cooldown of Rite of Rak'Shir to 10 seconds.
Sadism gained from Rite of Rak'Shir is lost on death.
Discussion
Blade of the Highlord increases Sadism each time Alarak applies
Basic Attacks to enemy Heroes. This bonus is lost on death. The bonus Sadism
has a limit of 40%. This Talent is situational because it competes with
Rite of Rak'Shir, which can scale well past 40%. This Talent can be useful if
you are unable to reliably hit enemy Heroes with Discord Strike.
Pure Malice increases Sadism up to 40%, but requires
your teammates to die for this to happen. For this reason, Pure Malice will
get the most value when you have expendable Heroes like Murky or The Lost
Vikings on your team. You should still consider Rite of Rak'Shir, as its bonus
can scale far past 40%.
Rite of Rak'Shir has the potential to scale
Sadism's bonus to absurd amounts. This bonus is lost
on death, but can otherwise be stacked without limit. You can gain 5% Sadism
easily, just by casting this on an enemy Hero who is about to die. Some enemies
will be zoned out of fights, simply by casting Rite of Rak'Shir on them. It is
important to note that destroying D.Va's Mech will not reset Rite of Rak'Shir's
cooldown; casting it on her is not recommended.
Level 16 Talents for Alarak


Hitting an enemy Hero with Discord Strike grants 50% of Sadism's damage bonus to Alarak's Basic Attacks for 4 seconds. Basic Attacks against Heroes refresh this duration.


Hitting an enemy Hero with the center of Lightning Surge allows it to be cast again for free on a different primary target within the next 2 seconds. This free cast cannot benefit from Lightning Barrage.


Basic Attacks against Stunned, Silenced, Slowed, or Rooted Heroes reduce the cooldown of Alarak's Basic Abilities by 3 seconds.
Discussion
Lethal Onslaught is similar to Mocking Strikes in
that they both grant a bonus to Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes who have
been hit by Discord Strike. Lethal Onslaught can only be triggered by Discord
Strike. However,
Mocking Strikes can be triggered by any
silence, slow, stun, or root effects. In addition to this important difference,
the effect of Mocking Strikes is much more powerful than that of Lethal
Onslaught. Lethal Onslaught does increase the amount of damage Alarak can
deliver in a single combo, which can help secure kills in some situations.
Lightning Barrage is a great Talent for playstyles focused on
Lightning Surge use. This enables you to deal more damage, heal more often, and
stack
Negatively Charged higher.
Mocking Strikes is very strong, and is generally recommended.
It greatly reduces Basic Ability cooldowns each time Alarak Basic Attacks an
enemy who is stunned, silenced, slowed, or rooted. You can silence enemies with
Discord Strike, and slow them with
Extended Lightning or
Hindered Motion. Basic Attacking after landing these Abilities
is quite natural, and Mocking Strikes will generally get a lot of value.
Level 20 Talents for Alarak


- Mana: 50
- Cooldown: 30 seconds
Alarak targets an area and channels for 1 second, becoming Protected and Unstoppable. After, if he took damage from an enemy Hero, he sends a shockwave that deals 275 (+4% per level) damage.
This ability will take over Alarak's Trait button.


- Cooldown: 45 seconds
After channeling, Alarak charges forward dealing 200 (+4% per level) damage to all enemies in his path. Distance is increased based on the amount of time channeled, up to 1.5 seconds.
Issuing a Move order while this is channeling will cancel it at no cost. Taking damage will interrupt the channeling.


- Cooldown: 30 seconds
Activate to teleport to the chosen location and remove all Roots, Slows, and damage over time effects. If Alarak fails to hit enemy Heroes 3 times with Basic Abilities within 4 seconds of using Last Laugh, his Health is reduced to 1.


- Cooldown: 20 seconds
Activate to permanently reduce Alarak's Sadism by 4% and reset the cooldowns of his Basic Abilities.
Discussion
Counter-Strike is covered in detail above.
Alarak is able to take both of his Level 10 Heroics in the same game. It is
recommended to do so if Deadly Charge was taken at Level 10, because
Counter-Strike is incredibly valuable after Deadly Charge is used to commit to
a fight.
Deadly Charge is covered in detail above.
This can be a good choice if you are against a very squishy composition, or
if you are being denied
Rite of Rak'Shir stacks which could be spent
on
Hasty Bargain. Deadly Charge is also good if you are getting resets from
Mocking Strikes, in which case Hasty Bargain may not be needed.
Last Laugh is a risky Talent that is almost
exclusively useful as an escape. Attempting to use this Talent offensively
will often result in death, unless you are very confident in your ability to
reliably land Alarak's skillshots. As a last resort escape it can
be worth taking, as Telekinesis is a rather poor tool for a full retreat. If
you need something to preserve your
Rite of Rak'Shir stacks,
this Talent can often work.
Hasty Bargain gives up some of Sadism's bonus damage
with each use; however, it allows Alarak to kill most Heroes in the game by
himself. If you are confident and comfortable on Alarak, this Talent can allow
you to close out a late game team fight in order to secure victory. For
maximum value, throw out your full Ability rotation, then activate Hasty
Bargain and repeat. Do not worry about the damage you give up doing this, as
kills in the late game are much more valuable. Additionally, you can farm
Sadism back with
Rite of Rak'Shir.
Changelog
- 28 Nov. 2019: Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance after balance patch.
- 30 Aug. 2019: Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance after balance patch.
- 24 Aug. 2019: Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance.
- 24 May 2019: Talent descriptions updated to account for Balance Patch.
- 18 Apr. 2019: Talent descriptions updated to account for Balance Patch.
- 11 Apr. 2019: Tier 1 Talent recommendations updated.
- 30 Mar. 2019: Talents page updated to reflect meta developments.
- 26 Aug. 2017: Blade of the Highlord text updated to reflect balance patch, earlier this week.
- 20 Jun. 2017: Extended Lightning text updated.
- 01 Jun. 2017: Text updated for Show of Force's discussion.
- 31 May 2017: Talents page updated following balance patch.
- 16 May 2017: Talents page updated following Alarak's rework in D.Va's release patch.
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