Cassia Build Guide “Step forth and be judged!”
Welcome to our guide for Cassia, 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.
Cassia's Overview
Cassia is a ranged Assassin who deals increased damage to Blinded enemies. Blinding Light makes her exceptionally strong against melee Heroes who are reliant on Basic Attacks as a primary damage source. Although she has strong all-in potential with Ball Lightning and Fend, her kit lacks escape options once she is committed. While Cassia can fit into many different team compositions, she gets very squishy when against crowd control.
Cassia's Strengths and Weaknesses
- Decent waveclear with Fend if Minions are Blinded
- Great against melee Heroes due to Charged Strikes
- Strong against Basic Attack oriented Heroes thanks to Blinding Light
- Gets more value from Healing, due to having innate armor from Avoidance
Cassia's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Lightning Fury Build
RecommendedThis Build slightly increases Lightning Fury's damage, and is a great option if you are looking for more poke damage. The playstyle of this build differs greatly from the other builds, as you will usually deal damage from a safer range.
Use Lightning Fury on enemy Heroes whenever possible, in order to stack Thunderstroke quickly. If you cast Lightning Fury perpendicularly toward enemy Gates, the lightning bolts will also damage the Towers and Walls with each cast.
Charged Strikes Build
SituationalCassia's Charged Strikes Build will make you deal a substantial amount of sustain damage through Basic Attacks to the enemy team. The main drawback of this build is that it requires you to remain within Cassia's short attack range while delivering Basic Attacks. But this weakness is compensated by Gloves Of Alacrity at Level 13.
Due to Cassia's small range, you will have a hard time constantly delivering Basic Attacks in the early game. It is better to be playing safely, only attacking enemies when you are sure of your safety. Start playing more aggressively after Level 13's Talents, because of the extra range or mobility provided by those.
Cassia's Synergies and Counters
Cassia greatly benefits from allied Heroes who can Blind enemies, because she deals increased damage to Blinded targets. If her allies can also Slow enemies, she can get additional value from Martial Law.
Cassia has no escapes, limited self-sustain and small range. Powerful backline Heroes can win trades with her at range, and punish her brutally if she dives in with Fend. Reliable crowd controls are also excellent against her, since Avoidance is only active when Cassia is moving.
Cassia's Maps
Cassia can perform well on any map. She has good waveclear, excellent siege damage at gates, is an effective duelist, and contributes high single-target damage against Boss type map objectives. Her viability is more dependent on team compositions than battlegrounds.
Cassia's Tips and Tricks
- Cast Lightning Fury perpendicularly toward enemy Gates to damage all of the Structures connected to the Gate.
- Use Fend to assist with waveclear, execute low Health enemies, or to follow up Ball Lightning.
- Use Ball Lightning to duel enemy Heroes in melee range, or during team fights when enemies are clumped together.
- Avoidance will benefit you any time you are moving, and will persist while stutter stepping.
- Valkyrie is a great tool for pickoffs or interrupting channeled Heroic Abilities, due to its very low cooldown.
- War Matron can be used to mitigate some premeditated Abilities, like Flamestrike or Pyroblast, use Fend on a nearby minion to protect yourself.
Cassia's Role in the Current Meta
Cassia works best as a the main ranged assassin of a composition, or to shut down enemy Heroes who are reliant on Basic Attacks for damage. She can be picked at any point of the draft, due to her strong damage and resistance. Cassia is excellent with a single target supports, since her armor greatly increases heals' effectiveness. Cassia can be picked with other Heroes that apply blinds to the enemies, slightly increasing her damage. However, the enemy team composition should be the factor between picking or not her, instead of your own.
Due to Cassia's builds variety, she can be picked either as a poke damage Hero (with Lightning Fury Build), or as a consistent damage dealer (with Charged Strikes). If the opposing team has many different sources of Basic Attack damage, it is still better to wait for one of them to commit to a fight before using the blind, or they will be able to just press backwards and your blind will be wasted.
Changelog
- 15 Apr. 2022 (talents page): Updated Ring of the Leech's relevance after balance patch.
- 15 Apr. 2022 (this page): Added Ring of the Leech to Basic Attacks build.
- 24 Jul. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed after recent balance patch and no changes are necessary.
- 26 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Updated Talent recommendations.
- 17 Feb. 2021 (talents page): Updated Inner Light's relevance.
- 17 Feb. 2021 (this page): Updated Builds.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Talent section reviewed and no changes are necessary.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed after recent balance patch and no changes are necessary.
- 27 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Updated recommended Talents.
- 27 Oct. 2020 (this page): Updated Builds to reflect current meta.
- 14 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Updated Surge of Light's discussion.
- 14 Sep. 2020 (this page): Updated Guide after recent balance patch.
- 24 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Updated Power Strike relevance after recent balance patch.
- 24 Aug. 2020 (this page): Lighting Fury Build updated after recent balance patch.
- 30 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Fend Talents and Build have been removed from recommendations.
- 30 Jul. 2020 (this page): Fend Build Removed. Remaining builds updated.
- 17 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Talent section reviewed and no changes are necessary.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed after recent balance patch and no changes are necessary.
- 06 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated builds and talents to match meta development.
- 04 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated builds and talents accordingly to recent balance patch.
- 04 Jun. 2020 (abilities page): Updated Avoidance description accordingly to recent balance patch.
- 04 Jun. 2020 (this page): Updated Guide to reflect changes from recent balance patch.
- 11 May 2020 (abilities page): Changed Ability descriptions after Cassia's rework.
- 11 May 2020 (this page): Updated Guide to match Cassia's rework.
- 09 May 2020 (talents page): Updated builds and talents accordingly to her rework.
- 27 Apr. 2020 (this page): Updated Strengths, Counters, and Role in the Current Meta to match build updates.
- 08 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Builds and talents updated to reflect current meta.
- 15 Dec. 2019 (this page): Updated Role in the Current Meta to include information on current Nexus Anomaly.
- 24 Aug. 2019 (talents page): Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance.
- 24 Aug. 2019 (abilities page): Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance.
- 24 Aug. 2019 (this page): Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance.
- 26 Jun. 2019 (this page): Updates to maps, strengths, and weaknesses
- 28 Jun. 2018 (talents page): Talent section updated to reflect June 26 balance patch.
- 21 Sep. 2017 (talents page): Talent discussion updated to reflect balance changes.
- True Sight Talent removed.
- Seraph's Hymn Talent moved from Level 13 to Level 1.
- Builds updated accordingly.
- 21 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Talent discussions updated to reflect balance changes.
- 21 Apr. 2017 (abilities page): Valkyrie discussion has been updated to account for its greatly reduced cooldown.
- 14 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Expanded explanations and strategies.
- 14 Apr. 2017 (abilities page): Expanded explanations and strategies.
- 07 Apr. 2017 (this page): Guide added.
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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