Genji Build Guide “Life and death balance on the edge of my blade.”

Last updated on Sep 26, 2023 at 09:00 by Outofmilk 36 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for Genji, 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.

1.

Genji's Overview

Genji is a highly mobile ranged Assassin whose kit also consists of explosive melee components allowing him to quickly dash in and out of combat. While his innate health pool is quite low, which makes him susceptible to enemy crowd control abilities, he does have several escape mechanisms that allow him to escape dangerous situations. If you are looking for a challenging high risk high reward Hero with tricky cooldown reset mechanics, Genji is the right choice for you.

2.

Genji's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
  • +Extremely mobile
  • +Flashy playstyle
  • +Cooldown resets on Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike allow for devastating combos
  • +Decent poke
X Weaknesses
  • -Weak waveclear
  • -Very high learning curve
  • -Low health pool
  • -Needs constant healing
3.

Genji's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Shuriken Build

Recommended
Level 1 Agile Dismount Icon
Level 4 Shuriken Mastery Icon Dragon Claw Icon ?
Level 7 Cyber Shield Icon
Level 10 X-Strike Icon Dragonblade Icon ?
Level 13 Shingan Icon
Level 16 Final Cut Icon Reflect Icon ?
Level 20 Living Weapon Icon The Dragon Becomes Me Icon ? Zanshin Icon ?

The Shuriken Build focuses primarily on getting the most out of your Shingan Icon Shingan talent. The key to playing this build is to be as close as you can to your enemy target, shotgunning your shurikens to trigger Shingan. Zanshin Icon Zanshin allows for aggressive gameplay to finish off targets in close combat. If you cannot complete Zanshin any time soon, or, if you prefer cooldown reduction on your Heroic Ability, Living Weapon Icon Living Weapon is a great choice, too.

Swift Strike Build

Situational
Level 1 Swift as the Wind Icon
Level 4 Strike At The Heart Icon Dragon Claw Icon ?
Level 7 Augmented Guard Icon Perfect Defense Icon ? Cyber Shield Icon ?
Level 10 Dragonblade Icon
Level 13 Flow Like Water Icon
Level 16 Final Cut Icon
Level 20 The Dragon Becomes Me Icon Zanshin Icon ?

Genji's Swift Strike Build is a high skill-cap Build that focuses on Genji slicing and dicing his way through the enemy team, aiming to get as many cooldown resets and Mana cost refunds on Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike as possible. Timing is crucial when playing this Build, as Genji needs to make sure to quickly execute an individual target in order to get his combo rolling. Activating Dragonblade Icon Dragonblade shortly after using Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike usually allows Genji to deal a heavy amount of burst damage. However, remember that he is still very susceptible to enemy Stuns and Roots, as they can completely shut down his momentum. Consequently, wait until some of those crowd control Abilities have been used before recklessly diving deep into the enemy lines.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Agile Dismount Icon
Level 4 Shuriken Mastery Icon
Level 7 Augmented Guard Icon
Level 10 X-Strike Icon
Level 13 Shingan Icon
Level 16 Final Cut Icon
Level 20 Living Weapon Icon

Genji's ARAM build is very cooldown-dependent and you likely want to wait with engaging until you have Deflect up. Due to the nature of ARAM games, it's very easy for Genji to secure kills and get out safely with Swift Strike resets.

4.

Genji's Synergies and Counters

V Genji synergizes with

Genji synergizes extremely well with Heroes who can provide both burst damage and some form of crowd control, such as Jaina or Kael'thas, who can help him take down individual targets very quickly in order to proc his cooldown reset on Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike. He also pairs very well with burst Healers like Uther, whose Armor buffs and Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield can greatly enhance Genji's own survivability.

X Genji is countered by

Due to his very low health pool, Genji struggles against Heroes with strong crowd control that render him defenseless for a short period of time. Thus, abilities like Varian's Taunt Icon Taunt or Malfurion's Twilight Dream Icon Twilight Dream can cause great problems for him. Furthermore, nimble ranged Assassins with great kiting potential such as Lunara can bait him into overextending only to get outnumbered by the enemy team. Keep in mind that any form of poison damage continues to tick after Genji's Deflect Icon Deflect expires, which is another reason why Lunara is a dangerous enemy for him to face. Heroes with point-and-click CC such as Uther work great in countering Genji should he dive into the backline.

5.

Genji's Maps

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

Genji excels on Maps like Cursed Hollow, Hanamura Temple, or Garden of Terror, on which he can utilize his superior mobility to quickly engage and disengage using impassable terrain to his advantage. Doing so allows him to surprise the enemy team's backline from an unexpected angle. On smaller Maps like Battlefield of Eternity or Tomb of the Spider Queen, that require good waveclear, Genji's options are rather limited and make him a suboptimal pick. On Braxis Holdout, however, he can use his superior mobility to gank the offlane. Furthermore, Deflect Icon Deflect can be used to great effect against the Boss on Braxis Holdout, whose fast Attack Speed causes Deflect to inflict heavy damage against it.

6.

Genji's Tips and Tricks

  • Set up ganks using the terrain to your advantage. Both Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike and Cyber Agility Icon Cyber Agility can be cast to cross Walls and other impassable terrain.
  • Choose your targets wisely when playing Genji. Focus on executing low health targets using Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike to immediately gain a cooldown reset and Mana refund for this ability.
  • Deflect Icon Deflect can be used to protect Genji against Structure damage while diving deep.
  • Genji is surprisingly Mana-hungry. Try to avoid committing to a team fight while below 25% of your total Mana.
  • If used from point blank range, all three Shuriken Icon Shuriken projectiles hit the same target. However, doing so also exposes Genji to enemy counter attacks more.
7.

Genji's Role in the Current Meta

Genji's biggest strength is his exceptional mobility that allows him to dodge almost any Ability in the game. As such, he poses a serious threat to the enemy backline, especially if Dragonblade Icon Dragonblade was chosen at Level 10. Genji does, however, come with a significant weakness and that is his susceptibility to Stuns, Roots, and Silences. These crowd control effects will render him defenseless for a short period of time, unable to use neither Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike nor Cyber Agility Icon Cyber Agility to disengage.

Mastering Genji will require more practice and experience than on many other Hero due to the fact that he entirely dependeds on timing his Abilities well, especially Deflect Icon Deflect and Swift Strike Icon Swift Strike. However, a well played Genji has the potential to single-handedly carry his team. To do so, he requires strong map awareness and swift reflexes to activate Deflect Icon Deflect while focused by the enemy team's burst damage. Thus, we strongly recommend practicing Genji in Unranked and Quick Match first before using him in Hero League.

8.

Changelog

  • 26 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
  • 25 May 2022 (talents page): Updated builds and talents.
  • 25 May 2022 (this page): Updated builds
  • 08 Feb. 2022 (talents page): Updated builds and talents.
  • 30 Jan. 2022 (this page): Updated builds.
  • 28 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds and talents updated.
  • 28 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds and talents updated.
  • 23 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 23 Sep. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 08 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated
  • 08 Aug. 2020 (this page): Builds updated
  • 05 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated talents to reflect new patch.
  • 29 Mar. 2020 (talents page): Updated talent explanations.
  • 29 Mar. 2020 (abilities page): Updated ability descriptions.
  • 29 Mar. 2020 (this page): Updated talent explanations.
  • 05 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added a note regarding this seasons Anomaly.
  • 24 Nov. 2019 (talents page): Reviewed guide and no changes are needed.
  • 24 Nov. 2019 (abilities page): Reviewed guide and no changes are needed.
  • 24 Nov. 2019 (this page): Reviewed guide and no changes are needed.
  • 23 Aug. 2019 (talents page): Reviewed guide and no changes are needed.
  • 23 Aug. 2019 (abilities page): Reviewed guide and no changes are needed.
  • 23 Aug. 2019 (this page): Reviewed guide and no changes are needed.
  • 08 May 2018 (talents page): Updated Genji's talents in accordance with the most recent Balance Updates.
  • 08 May 2018 (abilities page): Updated Genji's Dragonblade in accordance with the recent balance updates.
  • 29 May 2017 (talents page): Updated Genji's Level 1 talents and changed Agile Dismount from Not Recommended to Recommended.
  • 21 May 2017 (talents page): Changed Genji's Level 16 talents and changed Pathfinder from not recommended to recommended.
  • 30 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Explained in better terms why we think that Living Weapon is not a desirable talent.
  • 22 Apr. 2017 (this page): Guide added.
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