Maiev Build Guide “The hunt awaits!”

Last updated on Sep 28, 2021 at 20:40 by Derenash 62 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for Maiev, a Melee 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.

Maiev's Overview

Maiev is an exceptionally resilient Assassin who excels at initiating and generally punishing mispositioned opponents. With Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives as Maiev's main damage-dealing tool, she is excellent at facing multiple enemies. With good micro, she can very often win 1v2 or 2v3 fights.

2.

Maiev's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
X Weaknesses
  • -Predictable playstyle that can ultimately be countered
  • -No options for self-sustain
  • -Limited ability to solo-lane
  • -Relatively low single-target damage output, particularly in dueling situations
  • -Has to engage from bushes or vents to surprise enemies
  • -Easy to get punished after making mistakes
  • -Low damage output if you miss Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives
3.

Maiev's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Standard Build

Recommended
Level 1 Naisha's Memento Icon Pursuit of Vengeance Icon ?
Level 4 Pin Down Icon Blade Dance Icon ?
Level 7 Elune's Wrath Icon
Level 10 Containment Disc Icon Warden's Cage Icon ?
Level 13 Bladed Armor Icon
Level 16 Vengeful Knives Icon
Level 20 Shadow Orb: Shadow Strike Icon Shadow Orb: Huntress Icon ?

Maiev's Standard Build provides superior sustain damage. Key Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives-related Talents provide you with powerful, continuous area of effect damage that force your opponents to spread out, reducing their effectiveness.

Naisha's Memento Icon Naisha's Memento is the default option for this build, as it will greatly improve your early game and PvE capabilities. However, on Maps where you cannot abuse your improved Mercenary clear speed, we recommend getting Pursuit of Vengeance Icon Pursuit of Vengeance instead.

Cruel Chain Build

Situational
Level 1 Bonds of Justice Icon
Level 4 Blade Dance Icon
Level 7 Elune's Wrath Icon Bonds of Corruption Icon ?
Level 10 Containment Disc Icon Warden's Cage Icon ?
Level 13 Bladed Armor Icon Chain Gang Icon ?
Level 16 Cruel Chain Icon
Level 20 Shadow Orb: Shadow Strike Icon Shadow Orb: Vengeance Icon ?

Maiev's Cruel Chain Icon Cruel Chain Build focuses on dealing the maximum possible damage in the late game. Through stacking in the early Levels, Bonds of Justice Icon Bonds of Justice will greatly improve Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind.

Be aware that Bonds of Justice Icon Bonds of Justice stacks for each secondary target hit by Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind, so it is better to always apply the empowered Basic Attack on a minion. As the name suggests, this Build is extremely dependent on Cruel Chain Icon Cruel Chain, therefore we recommend focusing on stacking your Level 1 Talent before picking it.

4.

Maiev's Synergies and Counters

V Maiev synergizes with

Maiev's unique ability to reliably Pull a number of Heroes to her works particularly well with Tanks who seek to set up crowd control chains. Assassins with large amounts of avoidable area of effect damage will also find Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind particularly useful. Additionally, she is also favored by having healers with good AoE spells to benefit from her engage.

X Maiev is countered by

Maiev's relatively predictable game plan tends to be easily disrupted by crowd control or blinds, since those will completely shutdown Maiev's Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind. Furthermore, Maiev also struggles against Heroes with high mobility that can easily kite her.

5.

Maiev's Maps

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

Maiev's early game power and incredible mercenary camp clear speed make her a good pick in most maps. However, she excels in maps with numerous vents, bushes, and tiny corridors, as those will facilitate her engage with Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance and Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind. Maiev becomes an even better pick if the map has several mercenaries for her to capture, since she will be able to dictate how the game will be played.

6.

Maiev's Tips and Tricks

  • It is often best to hold on to Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives's Cooldown to try and hit at least two Heroes than to use it at all, as its reset mechanic is very powerful.
  • Using Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind against Minions or Structures can allow you to tether Heroes that are out of melee range.
  • Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance can be used through walls or from vents or bushes to surprise enemies.
  • Recasting Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance disjoints projectiles directly targeting Maiev.
  • Containment Disc Icon Containment Disc pierces Minions and Structures, and is particularly useful for denying strong Heroic Abilities or simply setting up.
  • Vault of the Wardens Icon Vault of the Wardens allows you to pass through units, but not Structures nor terrain.
  • With Cruel Chain Icon Cruel Chain, Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance can be used after Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind towards enemies, so it will trigger Cruel Chain's extra damage, and blink would activate Pull, guaranteeing maximum damage.
  • Since Bonds of Justice Icon Bonds of Justice will only stacks on secondary enemies, try to always target a minion, mercenary, or structure with Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind to complete the quest faster.
  • Against melee Heroes, you do not need to use your blink to get close. It is better to use Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance towards them while they are marked by Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind, as it will guarantee that they take Spirit of Vengeance's damage twice.
  • Warden's Cage Icon Warden's Cage has the same radius as Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind's Pull, and therefore it should be used right after applying it. It is not necessary to move backwards in order to Pull enemies into Warden's Cage, use these few seconds before the cage is active to deal damage or reposition yourself, since the enemies are already doomed into the area.
  • With practice, you will know when Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives will hit 2 targets, and Naisha's Memento Icon Naisha's Memento can be used right before it, because the Cooldown will be refreshed.
7.

Maiev's Role in the Current Meta

Maiev is a unique Assassin in that she provides an extremely reliable way of initiating, through the Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance + Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind combo, at the cost of having a relatively situational damage output.

Since Maiev does a mediocre job solo-laning, she is generally valued for her good waveclear, fast mercenary clear with Naisha's Memento Icon Naisha's Memento, and for her ability to set up for teammates using the aforementioned combo. In the early game, this means staying with teammates speeding up the clearing of Minion Waves, while also being aware of good possible engages. In later game phases, this means looking for opportunities to engage mispositioned opponents or peel for teammates.

To execute good combos and good engages you should always try to use Spirit of Vengeance Icon Spirit of Vengeance from outside of enemy vision, as your opponents' time to react will be considerably smaller. After blinking, Maiev needs to use Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind onto the closest enemy, marking all enemy Heroes nearby. Players take from 0.5 to 1.5 seconds to realize and react to your engage, therefore, you should be aware of it and use Vault of the Wardens Icon Vault of the Wardens accordingly.

8.

Changelog

  • 28 Sep. 2021 (talents page): Talents and Builds updated after recent balance patch.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (abilities page): Containment Disc's description updated.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (this page): Guide updated after recent balance patch.
  • 26 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Updated Talent recommendations.
  • 20 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated to reflect current meta.
  • 20 Oct. 2020 (abilities page): Abilities section updated.
  • 20 Oct. 2020 (this page): Guide updated to reflect current meta.
  • 30 Aug. 2020 (this page): Role in Current Meta section updated.
  • 15 Feb. 2020 (talents page): Talents reviewed following February 12 patch rework.
  • 27 Jan. 2020 (talents page): Talent builds and recommendations updated following January 22 balance patch.
  • 12 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added a note about current Anomaly.
  • 11 Oct. 2019 (talents page): Talent builds and recommendations reviewed and updated.
  • 11 Oct. 2019 (abilities page): Abilities section reviewed.
  • 11 Oct. 2019 (this page): Guide updated.
  • 23 May 2019 (talents page): Talent discussion and recommendations updated following patch v 2.45.1 changes.
  • 30 May 2018 (talents page): Talent recommendations updated to better reflect metagame state.
  • 09 Feb. 2018 (this page): Guide updated to reflect the February 9 balance patch changes.
  • 03 Feb. 2018 (talents page): Guide created.
  • 03 Feb. 2018 (abilities page): Guide created.
  • 03 Feb. 2018 (this page): Guide created.
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