Samuro Build Guide “My humble skills are yours.”

Samuro is a Melee Assassin who can Stealth and create Images of himself on demand. His Mirror Images can confuse his enemies, causing them to waste resources and cooldowns. Samuro is an excellent solo laner. With proper micro, his clones become a great nuisance for the enemy team, while Samuro will shred through any target.

Strengths

• Has very good DPS if he is free to hit
• Has 2 different cleanses for DoTs or debuffs
• Can tank many skillshots with clones
• Can quickly clear Minions, Mercenaries or Monsters with Bladestorm
• Has a very high skill ceiling
• Can distract and confuse enemy Heroes with Illusion Master
• Easily escape from any gank attempts
• Has great self-sustain by using the Hearth Trick

Weaknesses

• Weak early game
• Images can help enemies complete Quests
• Vulnerable if Revealed
• Vulnerable to peel and Knockbacks
• Hard to play
• No crowd control as a Bruiser

Wind Storm Build

Recommended

Level 1

Level 4 ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16 ? ?

Level 20

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The Bladestorm build is excellent to enhance Samuro's macro. It has Way of the Wind (greatly increases Samuro's sustain and rotation speed), Burning Blade (enhances Samuro's waveclear), and Bladestorm (can be used to clear a wave instantly). Further, it also focuses on Talents that increase Wind Walk's utility. This helps Samuro get into and out of melee range, where Samuro deals all of his meaningful damage. This build is a great starting point for players new to Samuro, and can perform well at all levels of play.

Bladestorm will mostly be used to clear Minions and Mercenaries effectively, due to its low Cooldown and high AoE damage. At Level 16, you hit a huge power spike which gives you kill potential against many Heroes in the game, even when they are at full health. This is accomplished by applying Harsh Winds with a stored Critical Strike, activating Critical Strike immediately after in order to reset your Basic Attack, and then keep attacking the target until they leave your Basic Attack's range, in which case you should use Blade Storm to execute the target, as it has a greater range than your Basic Attacks. Shukuchi makes it possible to close into melee range very quickly in order to deliver your lethal combo. Wind Strider allows you to benefit from most of your other Talents much more often.

Illusion Master Build

Situational

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16 ?

Level 20 ?

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The Illusion Master build is a good choice if your playstyle will be more focused on teamfights than on the macro part of a game. This build is excellent if you are experienced with the Hero, as it is considerably harder to use than Wind Storm build.

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Samuro synergizes with

Samuro does well with Heroes who can increase the stats of his Images, or that can heal him from afar, like Malfurion and Deckard can. He also excels with Abathur, the only thing better than Three Blade Style is Six Blade Style. You, improved.

Samuro is countered by

As Samuro has a hard time dealing with Knockbacks, Heroes like Lúcio and E.T.C. can greatly reduce his effectiveness by pushing him away at every possible aggression. He also suffers against Heroes that can easily kill his images, like Jaina, Orphea or Cassia with Surge of Light. Furthermore, Heroes that benefit from hitting clones can be a problem, such as Medivh, or Diablo.

Stukov is exceptional against Samuro because of Biotic Armor and Flailing Swipe, which can greatly reduce Samuro's damage.

Samuro's stronger maps

Samuro's average maps

Samuro's weaker maps

Samuro does very well on maps dependent on point capture, like Dragon Shire or Braxis Holdout, because he can easily beat almost every hero after Level 7. He is also very good on big maps where you need to channel objectives, due to his great stall capabilities and great duel potential during them. Samuro excels on maps with many different flank angles, where you can chase enemies or hit them from behind during objectives.

• Hearth Trick: Mirror Image can be used to heal in an unconventional way. When you are outside of combat, hold Left-Shift and cast Image Transmission on a Mirror Image while channeling Hearthstone. If the Mirror Image is still alive when Hearthstone's channel completes, you will instantly return to lane with the health restoration provided by the Hall of Storms.
• Clones' initial focus or movement can be controlled prior to Level 10, by using an Attack-Move command in the same moment they are created (This can be done by holding the button during the Mirror Image usage).
• Use Mirror Image to tank tower shots while ganking, or to damage structures without a friendly minion wave.
• Critical Strike resets your Basic Attacks; activate it immediately after delivering a Critical Strike for optimal effect.
• Wind Walk can be used to quickly approach enemies, or to help you escape dangerous situations. Remember the cooldown starts ticking as soon as the ability is activated
• Use Bladestorm to clear waves or to deal some AoE damage in fights, when enemy has no crowd controls available.
• The Movement Speed provided by Image Transmission can be used not only to chase, but to dodge or to disengage from combat as well.
• Activate Image Transmission to engage on a Hero near one of your Images, or to reposition to safety when you are in danger.

Samuro fits well into team compositions that need a Melee Offlane (Sololane) Assassin, but that also does not require extra peeling for the Assassins. Samuro can be a liability against certain Heroes because his Images can help enemies to quickly finish quests, or to enhance Healing dependent on hitting Heroes, like Malfurion and Diablo have.

Despite all of Samuro's Weaknesses, an excellent player can have great impact playing as him in all situations, due to his high skill ceiling. With Illusion Master, Samuro should be constantly harassing enemy backline, being aware of when they spend their Abilities, to use Image Transmission and kill them.