Cassia Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Cassia. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Cassia's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Cassia's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
---|---|
1 | ✓ ✘︎ ? |
4 | ? ? ✓ |
7 | ✘︎ ✘︎ ✓ |
10 | ✓ ? |
13 | ? ✓ ? |
16 | ? ✓ ? |
20 | ✓ ? ? ? |
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.
Level 1 Talents for Cassia
Increase the damage of Lightning Fury by 15.
Quest: Lightning Fury's damage is increased by 1.5 every time it hits a Hero.
Increase Fend's cast range and area of effect by 25%. It deals an additional 50% damage to enemies below 50% Health.
Gain 15% Attack Speed. Every 3rd Basic Attack deals 20% bonus damage and bounces to nearby enemy Heroes.
Discussion
Thunderstroke is a great Talent if you plan to build around Lightning Fury. This Talent can get good value on its own, but can be substantially amplified with Static Electricity at Level 16.
Impale will not only increase Fend capabilities against Heroes, but will also greatly increase her waveclear. If there is no threat, use Fend when wave is below 70% health, so you get the most out of the 50% extra damage (which will double your damage into low health minions). We do not recommend Impale due to how the other 2 talents are essential for their own build paths.
Charged Strikes is a powerful and versatile Talent that greatly increases Cassia's damage per second. It is essential when going for a Basic Attack centered build. The bounces of Charged Strikes deal extra damage with Martial Law, but does not provide Cassia with healing via Ring of the Leech. Be aware that the splash damage from Charged Strikes towards Heroes will make structures target you.
Level 4 Talents for Cassia
Regenerate 6 (+4% per level) Health per second while Avoidance is active. If fully charged, gain an additional 12 (+4% per level) Health per second.
Basic Attacks against your primary target heal for 20% of their damage. If an enemy is Blinded, this also affects Lightning Fury and Fend.
Activate to heal for 25% of your maximum Health over 5 seconds. Enemy Heroes hit with Lightning Fury lower the cooldown of this ability by 10 seconds.
Discussion
Plate of the Whale is a great Talent. It provides good self-sustain in all stages of the game. In fights it will give almost as much healing than you would get just by constantly attacking with Ring of the Leech.
Ring of the Leech adds decent healing to Cassia's Basic Attacks. This is a good Talent when combined with Charged Strikes. However, we do not recommend it in any other build, as it requires delivering constant Basic Attacks to outperform Plate of the Whale.
Inner Light is mostly a good Talent, but gets excellent when paired with Static Electricity, since Cassia will be able to activate Inner Light 2 or 3 times in a fight.
Level 7 Talents for Cassia
Enemies hit by Lightning Fury or Fend are Slowed by 20% for 2 seconds.
Basic Attacks against your primary enemy Hero grant 10 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Blinding Light by 2 seconds.
Passive: Increase the passive damage bonus of Blinding Light from 15% to 30%.
After taking 650 (+4% per level) damage with Avoidance active, Cassia can activate Avoidance to deal 220 (+4% per level) damage to enemies around her.
Discussion
Grounding Rod adds a decent slow for Fend and Lightning Fury, which will enhance Cassia's kiting capabilities, allowing her to retreat or to chase easier. It is not a weak talent, since it can be used to trigger Martial Law. However, Surge of Light is essential for Cassia, and should not be skipped.
Seraph's Hymn is an underwhelming Talent that we do not recommend in any build. The Cooldown reduction is not as strong as it looks, because Blinding Light should mostly only be cast when enemies commit towards Cassia or an ally, instead of being used when it is ready. Another reason why we do not recommend this Talent is due to competition with Surge of Light, which greatly increases Cassia's damage output.
Surge of Light is a very interesting Talent that stores damage taken, and can deal most of the the stored damage in an area of effect once fully charged. It can be good in any scenario, but will be excellent against melee compositions. It can be ready to be cast in all fights, since the charge has no duration, and can be charged through PvE damage. It also has no Cooldown, which means you can be using it 2 or 3 times in a fight, increasing your damage capabilities greatly.
Level 10 Talents for Cassia
- Mana: 60
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Throw a ball of lightning at an enemy Hero that bounces up to 6 times between nearby enemy Heroes and Cassia, dealing 180 (+4% per level) damage to enemies hit.
- Mana: 60
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Summon a Valkyrie that rushes to Cassia after 0.75 seconds, pulling the first enemy Hero hit, dealing 225 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds at the end of her path. The Valkyrie knocks back all other enemy Heroes in her way.
Discussion
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.
Ball Lightning is an amazing Heroic with a very low Cooldown. It can be used to duel enemy Heroes who are isolated. It is best used after you cast Blinding Light, and just before you cast Fend. This will usually result in the enemy Hero retreating or dying. In team fights, it can be risky to follow up Ball Lightning with Fend, as there will be many enemy Heroes to counter-engage on you. Instead, focus on casting Ball Lightning on enemy Heroes who are tightly grouped up for the team fight. If the enemies disperse in an attempt to stop the Ball Lightning from bouncing, you may be able to pick off an isolated enemy with Fend. If you time Fend correctly, you can sometimes even keep the ball bouncing between the isolated enemy and Cassia.
Valkyrie is a niche Heroic, as its long delay makes it easy to avoid unless the intended target is already controlled. If there are channeled Heroics on the enemy team, Valkyrie can be a great way to interrupt them. In other words, this is most useful as a " Mosh Pit-stop". Due to Valkyrie's low Cooldown, it performs very well for this purpose. It can also be an interesting option when your team has good crowd control and reliable ways to killing tanks, such as Jaina or Greymane with Cursed Bullet. In this situation, you can follow any stuns with it, and easily kill the target.
Level 13 Talents for Cassia
Cassia becomes Protected while Channeling Fend and for an additional 1 second if the Channel is completed.
Gain 5% Movement Speed. While Avoidance is fully charged, gain an additional 10% Movement Speed and Mounting is instant.
Gain 1 Basic Attack range. While Avoidance is fully charged, gain an additional 1 Basic Attack range.
Discussion
War Matron is an outstanding Talent when enemies cannot easily cancel Fend. It can be used in many different ways. Fend can be used on minions or mercenaries if you need protection against certain abilities, like Pyroblast.
War Traveler provides a constant Movement Speed to Cassia, being even greater while Cassia is fully stacked. This Talent will be a good option in any build, because of how Movement Speed can be abused in various ways.
Gloves Of Alacrity is excellent with Charged Strikes. When stacked, Cassia will have the same range as Raynor, and will be able to kite and harass enemies more often.
Level 16 Talents for Cassia
Lightning Fury pierces but only splits on Heroes. Enemy Heroes hit reduce its cooldown by 1 second and become marked for 15 seconds. Upon reaching 3 marks, remove them and cast a Blinding Light at their feet.
Gain 2 additional charges of Lightning Fury. Fend's impact launches a lightning bolt towards each nearby enemy Hero.
Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1% of their maximum Health. Increase this to 3% if they are Stunned, Rooted, Slowed, or Blinded.
Discussion
Power Strike is a decent option when you would not be able use Fend to activate the extra Lightnings from Static Electricity. It will greatly increase your poke potential, but differently from Static Eletricity, Power Strike does not increase burst damage.
Static Electricity will be a good choice in most scenarios. Even if you cannot properly dive enemies with fend, the extra poke damage will help you out. It is recommended if you did not go for a Basic Attack oriented build.
Martial Law is a great way to deal with enemy Heroes who have a large Health pool. The bonus damage of Martial Law can proc from the bounce attacks provided by Charged Strikes. It is the default option in a Basic Attacks build, and has great synergy with Grounding Rod.
Level 20 Talents for Cassia
Ball Lightning can now bounce indefinitely. Every bounce reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.
Upon impaling an enemy Hero, they are Blinded for 5 seconds and Cassia's Valkyrie creates a wave of light that deals 200 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies. This wave Silences and Roots them for 3 seconds.
Cassia's Basic Attacks now ignore Armor and while Avoidance is fully charged, they deal an additional 20% bonus damage.
Activate to fully charge Avoidance and increase its Armor value to 60 for 4 seconds.
Losing Avoidance removes this bonus.
Discussion
Infinite Lightning is a way to improve Ball Lightning. Casting this on the enemy team forces them to either spread out, or lose the team fight. You will usually see enemies spread out when Infinite Lightning is cast; be ready to punish any enemy Heroes who may become isolated. When you see the enemy Heroes spreading apart, you can walk toward the Ball Lightning to give it a place to bounce to. Be careful not to extend too far, as Cassia lacks escapes. With this Talent, you can duel almost any Hero in the game, provided that they cannot stop Ball Lightning from bouncing between you. Ball Lightning will still stop if an enemy it is bouncing to enters Stasis, moves out of range of the bounce, or if either of you dies.
Imprisoning Light can be taken if you are not building towards Basic Attacks. The extra damage is applied to all enemies around the main target, including the one Displaced by Valkyrie. However, the Silence and Root will only be applied to the secondary Targets, while blind will only affect the Pulled target.
Titan's Revenge slightly increases Basic Attack damage. The armor penetration is a nice bonus if you are against Heroes with Physical Armor. It is not recommended if you did not commit for a Basic Attack build.
Rockstopper is not as strong as it looks. Cassia's main weakness is getting rooted or stunned. If you use this Talent right before getting controlled, it will have low value because the extra armor runs out after the first second of not moving. However, this Talent is a good choice if enemies do not rely on crowd control.
Changelog
- 15 Apr. 2022: Updated Ring of the Leech's relevance after balance patch.
- 26 Mar. 2021: Updated Talent recommendations.
- 17 Feb. 2021: Updated Inner Light's relevance.
- 20 Jan. 2021: Talent section reviewed and no changes are necessary.
- 27 Oct. 2020: Updated recommended Talents.
- 14 Sep. 2020: Updated Surge of Light's discussion.
- 24 Aug. 2020: Updated Power Strike relevance after recent balance patch.
- 30 Jul. 2020: Fend Talents and Build have been removed from recommendations.
- 17 Jul. 2020: Talent section reviewed and no changes are necessary.
- 06 Jun. 2020: Updated builds and talents to match meta development.
- 04 Jun. 2020: Updated builds and talents accordingly to recent balance patch.
- 09 May 2020: Updated builds and talents accordingly to her rework.
- 08 Apr. 2020: Builds and talents updated to reflect current meta.
- 24 Aug. 2019: Guide reviewed to ensure meta relevance.
- 28 Jun. 2018: Talent section updated to reflect June 26 balance patch.
- 21 Sep. 2017: 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: Talent discussions updated to reflect balance changes.
- 14 Apr. 2017: Expanded explanations and strategies.
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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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