Raynor Talents

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Quick Reference
  • 2. Introduction
  • 3. Strengths
  • 4. Weaknesses
  • 5. Role in the Current Meta
  • 6. Contents
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Abilities
  • 1. Penetrating Round
  • 2. Inspire
  • 3. Adrenaline Rush
  • 4. Hyperion
  • 5. Raynor's Raiders
  • 6. Advanced Optics
• ×Talent Build
  • 1. Talent Build
  • 2. Common Talent Paths
  • 3. Level 1 Talents
    • 3.1. Descriptions
    • 3.2. Recommended
    • 3.3. Not Recommended
  • 4. Level 4 Talents
    • 4.1. Descriptions
    • 4.2. Recommended
    • 4.3. Situational
    • 4.4. Not Recommended
  • 5. Level 7 Talents
    • 5.1. Descriptions
    • 5.2. Recommended
    • 5.3. Not Recommended
  • 6. Level 10 Talents
    • 6.1. Descriptions
    • 6.2. Recommended
  • 7. Level 13 Talents
    • 7.1. Descriptions
    • 7.2. Recommended
    • 7.3. Not Recommended
  • 8. Level 16 Talents
    • 8.1. Descriptions
    • 8.2. Recommended
    • 8.3. Situational
    • 8.4. Not Recommended
  • 9. Level 20 Talents
    • 9.1. Descriptions
    • 9.2. Recommended
    • 9.3. Not Recommended
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Strategy, Tips, and Tricks
  • 1. General Raynor Gameplay
  • 2. When Not Team Fighting
  • 3. When Team Fighting
    • 3.1. Team Fights Started By Your Team
    • 3.2. Team Fights Started By The Enemy Team
    • 3.3. Skirmishes
  • 4. Summary of Tips and Tricks
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Synergies and Counters
  • 1. Heroes Raynor Works Well With
    • 1.1. Illidan
    • 1.2. Kharazim
    • 1.3. Leoric
  • 2. Heroes Raynor Is Countered By
    • 2.1. Arthas
      • 2.1.1. How To Play Against Arthas
    • 2.2. Johanna
      • 2.2.1. How To Play Against Johanna
    • 2.3. Zeratul
      • 2.3.1. How To Play Against Zeratul
• +Map-specific Advice
  • 1. Battlefield of Eternity
  • 2. Blackheart's Bay
  • 3. Cursed Hollow
  • 4. Dragon Shire
  • 5. Garden of Terror
  • 6. Infernal Shrines
  • 7. Sky Temple
  • 8. Tomb of the Spider Queen
  • 9. Towers of Doom
  • 10. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for playing Raynor in a competitive environment in Heroes of the Storm. For each talent, we explain what they do and why they should or should not be taken.

The other pages of our Raynor guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About the Author

KendricSwissh is a Grand Master in both Hero and Team League, playing most Warrior and Support. He has been playing Heroes of the Storm since the early stages of the Alpha version and has mastered a large number of Heroes. He is also creating Heroes of the Storm related content on YouTube, most notably his series called HGC Hightlights. He is also a streamer on Twitch where he will gladly answer all of your questions about the game.

1. Talent Build

Level	Choices
1	✔ ✔ ✘
4	✔ ✘ ✘ ?
7	✘ ✔ ✘ ✘
10	✔ ✔
13	✔ ✘ ✘
16	? ✘ ✔
20	✘ ✘ ✘ ✔

2. Common Talent Paths

3. Level 1 Talents

3.1. Descriptions

Give Me More! increases Adrenaline Rush's healing by 50%.

Seasoned Marksman permanently increases your Basic Attack damage by 0.2 whenever a nearby enemy Minion or Mercenary dies, and by 0.5 for each enemy Hero takedown, up to 40. Upon reaching 40 bonus Basic Attack damage, Seasoned Marksman can be activated to increase your attack speed by 30% for 3 seconds. This has a 60-second cooldown.

Scouting Drone is an activatable talent that summons a Scouting Drone at the targeted location for 45 seconds. The Drone reveals a circular area around it, regardless of vision blockers, including normally hidden areas such as Bushes. The Drone itself is visible to opponents from Bushes, and may sustain two Basic Attacks before dying. Scouting Drone has two Charges and a 45-second cooldown.

3.2. Recommended

Seasoned Marksman increases the damage of Raynor's powerful Basic Attacks as the game progresses. Since Raynor is not a ganker, he should spend quite a while in lane, which gives him enough time to accumulate stacks for Seasoned Marksman. More experienced players can even try to rotate to another lane in order to acquire additional stacks when there are no more enemy Minions on their current lane. However, we only recommend doing so on smaller maps like Tomb of the Spider Queen or Dragon Shire.

Give Me More! is a solid alternative to Seasoned Marksman if the enemy team consists of several burst-heavy Assassins like Zeratul or Jaina, or if your team does not have a dedicated Healer, which may occur when playing Quick Match. The additional healing can cause Raynor to become fairly durable and allows him to escape dangerous situations more efficiently.

3.3. Not Recommended

Scouting Drone can be a useful on Supporters like Malfurion, however, we do not recommend picking this talent on Raynor. Ignoring Seasoned Marksman and thus losing an essential amount of damage would simply be too substantial for a ranged Assassin that relies on Basic Attacks.

4. Level 4 Talents

4.1. Descriptions

Focused Attack increases the damage of your next Basic Attack used against a Hero by 75%. This effect has a 10-second cooldown that is reduced by 1 second whenever you hit with a Basic Attack.

Vigorous Assault causes your Basic Attacks to heal you for 15% of the total damage they deal.

Confident Aim lowers the cooldown of Penetrating Round by 4 seconds if it hits at least one enemy Hero.

Relentless Leader reduces the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush if Raynor gets Stunned or Rooted. Also, nearby enemies are knocked back from Raynor. This effect can only occur every 8 seconds.

4.2. Recommended

Focused Attack has great synergy with Seasoned Marksman and provides an early power spike for Raynor. But even as the game progresses, Focused Attack does not lose much of its strength, which makes it a very reliable talent with no real downsides.

4.3. Situational

Relentless Leader provides decent synergy with Give Me More! at Level 1. However, the damage loss from neglecting Focused Attack can really cripple Raynor's combat performance. Thus, we only recommend picking Relentless Leader if the enemy team consists of multiple strong Initiators like E.T.C., Muradin, or Thrall that can really give you a hard time.

4.4. Not Recommended

Vigorous Assault is not a bad talent per se, however, Raynor's overall damage output suffers greatly if Focused Attack is neglected. Besides, Adrenaline Rush already provides decent self-sustain to Raynor, which is why we find that Vigorous Assault is not needed.

Confident Aim allows Raynor to use Penetrating Round more frequently. However, Penetrating Round is not Raynor's primary damage source, especially not during the mid-late game. Although this talent may come in handy during the early game, when Raynor's Basic Attacks are not as strong yet, it will get outperformed by Focused Attack eventually.

5. Level 7 Talents

5.1. Descriptions

Hamstring Shot causes Penetrating Round to also slow enemies hit by 20% for 3 seconds.

Revolution Overdrive increases Raynor's movement speed by 10% while affected by Inspire. This bonus gets increased by an additional 5% for each allied Hero nearby while Inspire is still active.

Fight or Flight causes Adrenaline Rush to become an activatable ability. Whenever Adrenaline Rush is activated, it also grants Resistant which causes Raynor to take 25% reduced damage from all sources for 4 seconds.

Puttin' On a Clinic causes Raynor's ability cooldowns to be reduced by 1.5 seconds whenever an enemy Minion, Mercenary, or Hero that he had previously damaged dies.

5.2. Recommended

Revolution Overdrive compensates one of Raynor's biggest weaknesses, which is his lack of mobility. By choosing Revolution Overdrive, Raynor receives a very reliable and effective movement speed boost. What makes this talent even better is the fact that it works very well during team fights. Since Raynor will likely have several allied Heroes around him, the movement speed bonus provided by Revolution Overdrive increases even further.

5.3. Not Recommended

Hamstring Shot causes Penetrating Round to also slow each enemy hit, which is not bad at all. However, this talent loses a lot of its value if Raynor does not go for a build that focuses mainly on improving Penetrating Round. Revolution Overdrive, on the other hand, usually achieves better results when going for a talent build that focuses on Raynor's Basic Attacks.

Fight or Flight allows Raynor to activate his Adrenaline Rush manually and also causes him to take reduced damage for a short period of time. This would be a great effect on Warriors but does not fit well to a ranged Assassin. When playing Raynor, your main priority should be to position yourself carefully in the first place to avoid taking too much damage.

Puttin' On a Clinic is a useless talent on Raynor, since, unlike Heroes like Jaina or Kael'thas, he is not dependent on dealing damage through his abilities.

6. Level 10 Talents

6.1. Descriptions

At this level, Heroic Abilities become available. Hyperion and Raynor's Raiders have already been described in the Abilities section.

6.2. Recommended

Hyperion is a very useful Heroic Abilitiy when it comes to zoning enemies from static Map Objectives like Guardians, Temples, or Tributes. Furthermore, Hyperion is an excellent pushing tool, which greatly aids in taking down enemy Structures. However, refrain from using Hyperion carelessly, as its long cooldown makes misusage very unforgiving.

Raynor's Raiders provides great single target damage and allows Raynor to hunt down retreating opponents very efficiently. Combined with his dangerous Basic Attacks, the Banshees can take down enemy Assassins and Specialists from a safe distance. However, make sure to manually reassign a new target if needed and always try to keep track of your Banshees' health.

7. Level 13 Talents

7.1. Descriptions

Giant Killer causes your Basic Attacks to deal additional damage to Heroes equal to 1.5% of their maximum Health.

Double-Barreled causes Penetrating Round to gain a second charge.

Steel Resolve increases Inspire's duration by 50% and also causes Adrenaline Rush to apply an additional instance of Inspire.

7.2. Recommended

Giant Killer provides a massive boost to Raynor's Basic Attacks, especially if he is attacking enemy Warriors with a high health pool. It also synergises extremely well with Seasoned Marksman and Focused Attack and thus becomes a strong talent in a build that emphasises Raynor's Basic Attacks.

Steel Resolve is a solid alternative to Giant Killer if the enemy team consists of only one or no Warriors at all, which may be the case in some Quick Matches. Increasing the duration of Inspire also provides nice synergy with Revolution Overdrive, which allows Raynor to benefit from an increased movement speed for a longer period of time.

7.3. Not Recommended

Double-Barreled is a useless talent, since Raynor gets most of his damage done through his Basic Attacks. As such, a second charge for Penetrating Round is not needed.

8. Level 16 Talents

8.1. Descriptions

Executioner causes Raynor's Basic Attacks to deal 40% inreased damage against slowed, stunned, or rooted enemies.

Cluster Round increases Penetrating Round's damage by 20% for each additional enemy hit, up to a maximum of 100%. It also increases Penetrating Round's width by 50%.

Bullseye causes Penetrating Round to stun the first enemy hit for 1 second.

8.2. Recommended

Bullseye adds a useful stun to Raynor's Penetrating Round, which is reason enough to consider it a decent talent. Not only does the stun protect you against hostile initiators, it also allows Raynor to actively chase retreating target more efficiently.

8.3. Situational

Executioner can come in handy when having a lot of crowd control in your team composition. Heroes like Jaina or Muradin are predestined to make this talent a viable choice. Executioner also benefits a lot from other talents that improve Raynor's Basic Attacks.

8.4. Not Recommended

Cluster Round is not a bad talent per se. Being able to knock away enemies twice in a row provides decent disengage. However, we do not consider Cluster Round to be a recommended talent on Raynor, because it focuses on increasing Penetrating Round's damage instead of improving his Basic Attacks.

9. Level 20 Talents

9.1. Descriptions

Scorched Earth causes Hyperion to fire an additional set of lasers, blasting the ground 5 times per second for a small amount of damage in an area.

Dusk Wings causes the Banshees provided by Raynor's Raiders to remain cloaked even while attacking. It also increases their attack rate by 50%.

A Card to Play causes the cooldown of Raynor's Heroic Abilities to be reduced by 15 seconds whenever an allied or enemy Hero is killed.

Nexus Frenzy increases the range of your Basic Attacks by 20% and your attack speed by 20%.

9.2. Recommended

Nexus Frenzy complements Raynor's greatest strengths, which are his powerful Basic Attacks and his innately large attack range provided by Advanced Optics. If you do not get the impression that the enemy focuses you, Nexus Frenzy is a great talent to improve your overall damage output from a safe distance.

9.3. Not Recommended

Scorched Earth adds more damage to Raynor's Hyperion Heroic Ability, which turns it into an even more powerful zoning and pushing tool. Unfortunately, Hyperion's long cooldown makes this talent very situational, which is why we do not recommend picking it.

Dusk Wings has too little of an impact on team fights to be considered worth picking up. The permanent cloak can easily be outplayed by enemy AoE abilities. Due to the fact that Raynor's Basic Attacks deal more damage than the improved Banshees, Nexus Frenzy would be better choice at Level 20 in terms of damage output.

A Card to Play is an interesting talent, however, it cannot compete against the improved damage output from Nexus Frenzy, which prove to be a lot more benefical to Raynor's team fight performance. After all, being able to cast an additional instance of Hyperion or Raynor's Raiders is not very useful if your team just lost a team fight or if you died because of you did not take Bolt of the Storm.

10. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 14 Jun. 2017: Removed Bolt of the Storm.
• 14 Jul. 2016: Updated Raider's Recruitment description since it can now hold up to 100 charges (up from 50).
• 17 May 2016: Removed Berserk and updated Seasoned Marksman following Chromie's patch changes. Talent recommendations remain the same.
• 06 Apr. 2016: Updated the section according to the latest Balance Update.
• 08 Dec. 2015: Changed Bullseye from Not Recommended to Recommended.