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Table of Contents
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 |
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| 4 |
✔
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| 7 |
✘
✔
✘
✘
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| 10 |
✔
✔
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| 13 |
✔
✘
✘
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| 16 |
?
✘
✔
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| 20 |
✘
✘
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✔
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2. Common Talent Paths
Basic Attack Build: outstanding sustained single-target damage
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
✘
✘
✘
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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 Stealthed 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 Stealth 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
- 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.
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