Samuro Talents
Table of Contents

General Information
On this page, we present the viable talent choices for playing Samuro 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 Samuro guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.
About the Author
Straften is a Grand Master ranked player in both Hero League and Team League. He has a passion for theorycrafting, and regularly tests new features early on the PTR. He explains his strategy, reasoning, and implementation in these guides.
1. Samuro's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
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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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2. Samuro's Common Talent Paths
2.1. Wind Walk Build (talent calculator link)
The Wind Walk build 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.
Burning Blade helps you clear Minions and Mercenaries effectively,
and still increases Samuro's Hero damage quite a lot. At Level 1, you can take
Way of the Blade if you plan to focus heavily on PvE.
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 using Blade Storm while you still have extra movement speed
from Wind Walk.
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.
3. Level 1 Talents for Samuro


Quest: Every time a Mirror Image Critically Strikes a Hero, Samuro gains 0.5 Attack Damage, up to 20.
Reward: After hitting 40 Heroes, Samuro gains an additional 20 Attack Damage.


Critical Strike now happens for Samuro and his Mirror Images every 3rd Basic Attack.


Gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after entering or exiting Wind Walk.
3.1. Discussion
Way of Illusion only increases Samuro's damage, it does not
increase the damage of Mirror Images.
Way of the Blade increases Samuro's damage. It also increases the
damage of Mirror Images, because they will critically strike more often. This
Talent has good synergy with
Burning Blade and
Illusion Master.
Way of the Wind gives Samuro greatly improved mobility that can
be used to approach enemies, to retreat, or to dodge harmful effects. This
Talent opens up several strategic options for Samuro. While it does not
directly increase Samuro's damage, it enables him to be in melee range to deal
damage much more often.
4. Level 4 Talents for Samuro


Mirror Image grants Samuro and his Images 40 Spell Armor against the next 2 sources of Spell damage, reducing their damage by 40%.


While Samuro has Wind Walk and for 3 seconds after breaking it, both he and his Mirror Images gain 30 Armor, taking 30% reduced damage from all sources.


Advancing Strikes grants Samuro and his Mirror Images 30 Physical Armor.
4.1. Discussion
Mirage increases the survivability of Samuro and his Images by
allowing you to reduce the incoming Ability damage. This will also make
your Images harder to deal with for the enemy team, which can buy your team
time to rotate or escape. Mirage is not recommended over One With The Wind,
because it only prevents two instances of Ability damage.
One With The Wind greatly increases the survivability of Samuro and
his Images by allowing you to reduce all incoming damage at will. This is
usually better than
Mirage, because it reduces damage from
Abilities and Basic Attacks. You can also benefit from it more often than
Mirage, because
Wind Walk has a lower cooldown than
Mirror Image.
One With The Wind also grants Armor for a duration, rather than only reducing
the damage of a number of incoming Abilities.
Deflection can only reduce incoming Attack Damage, and only does
so while you are on the offensive. It is hard to justify taking this Talent.
One With The Wind prevents more damage, and can be activated when you need the
armor the most.
5. Level 7 Talents for Samuro


Critical Strikes from Samuro and Mirror Images deal an additional 50% of their Basic Attack damage to the target and nearby enemies.


Samuro's Critical Strikes deal an additional 45% of his Basic Attack damage for each Mirror Image that is active.


Critical Strike now has 2 charges. Samuro's Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Critical Strike by 1.75 seconds.
5.1. Discussion
Burning Blade greatly increases the damage that your
Critical Strikes do, and also works on your Images. It also improves
Samuro's waveclear. Of all of the options at this tier, this one is the most
versatile.
Phantom Pain can conditionally surpass Burning Blade's single target
damage, but is much less consistent. Burning Blade offers almost as much damage,
does so in an area of effect, and is not dependent on Images being active.
Crushing Blows does not increase the damage of
Critical Strike like the other options at this tier. Crushing Blows can be
useful because Critical Strike activations reset your Basic Attack cooldown.
This allows you to approach an enemy, apply a Basic Attack, and quickly apply
two more with Critical Strike.
Press the Attack's Attack Speed buff can be
stacked up very quickly this way. The increased Attack Speed will then help you
regain charges of Critical Strike. In many match-ups you will not be able to
continuously attack an enemy Hero like this, so this strategy has limited
usefulness.
6. Level 10 Talents for Samuro


- Cooldown: 110 seconds
Cause a Bladestorm of destructive force around Samuro for 4 seconds, making him Unstoppable and dealing 235 (+4% per level) damage per second to nearby enemies.


- Cooldown: 25 seconds
Mirror Images can be controlled individually or as a group and their damage is increased by 100%.
Passive: Samuro's Basic Attack damage is increased by 10%, and Image Transmission's cooldown is reduced to 8 seconds.
6.1. Discussion
Bladestorm is a great Heroic Ability which will
help you to secure kills that could otherwise be prevented by enemy crowd
control. If an enemy is low on Health and you are able to get in range, this
Heroic will almost always result in a takedown. Bladestorm does benefit from
the debuff from
Harsh Winds, so try to time it
accordingly.
Illusion Master is a novel Heroic that is more of an
extra passive, rather than an actived one. Illusion Master will increase the
efficiency of your Mercenary clear, so if you are playing on a battleground
where camps are very important (like Blackhearts Bay,) it can be a very strong
choice. If you want to try a challenging and unconventional approach focused on
cunning and subterfuge, try this Heroic out! If you need to win through Hero
Takedowns, Bladestorm is probably the better option.
7. Level 13 Talents for Samuro


Samuro's Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Mirror Image by 1 second.


Wind Walk creates a Mirror Image at Samuro's location that will continue whatever he was doing.


Wind Walk teleports Samuro a short distance in the direction he's currently facing.
7.1. Discussion
Mirrored Steel works best when you are able to Basic
Attack enemy Heroes frequently. It works well when paired with
Press the Attack at Level 16.
Kawarimi is another Talent that allows you to replace
Images more often. The Images spawned with Kawarimi will continue to run in the
direction you are at the moment you activate
Wind Walk;
so you can sort of "shoot" them at the enemy team during team fights. If you
take
Wind Strider at Level 20, you can do this quite
often and create significant confusion for the enemy team.
Shukuchi gives you a gap closer that opens up more
options for engage and escape. It is the most straight forward and reliable
Talent in this tier.
8. Level 16 Talents for Samuro


Samuro's Basic Attacks against Stunned, Rooted, or Slowed enemies are always Critical Strikes.


Attacking a Hero during Wind Walk causes them to take 30% increased damage from Samuro for 3 seconds.


While Advancing Strikes is active, Samuro and his Mirror Images gain 10% Attack Speed every time they Basic Attack, up to 40%.
8.1. Discussion
Merciless Strikes is a good choice if you have a
lot of slows and roots on your team. With Heroes like Jaina or Arthas in your
composition, you can Critical Strike every strike during team fights.
Harsh Winds gives Samuro enough damage potential to kill many
Heroes in the game by himself. Even if you do not go for a kill with Bladestorm,
Harsh Winds greatly increases Samuro's burst damage. This makes hit and run
harassment much more meaningful, often forcing enemies to retreat from the
battlefield completely.
Press the Attack is very good with
Crushing Blows for reasons outlined
above. Press the Attack will give you some much needed damage against Heroes,
especially if you took
Illusion Master at Level 10.
9. Level 20 Talents for Samuro


Mirror Images use Bladestorm when Samuro does, but for 25% damage.


Samuro's Mirror Images no longer take additional damage, effecively increasing their health by 50% and their duration is increased to 36 seconds.


Wind Walk's cooldown is reduced by 6 seconds.


Advancing Strikes grants an additional 15% Movement Speed for Samuro and his Mirror Images, and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.
9.1. Discussion
Dance Of Death is a very fun Talent. It can help you
eliminate squishy Assassins, and can also cause a lot of damage on team
compositions that are designed to wombo combo. However, due to
Bladestorm's
relatively long cooldown, the other Level 20 options will give more
consistant results in your average match up.
Three Blade Style is a good choice if you are a true
Illusion Master, as it greatly increases the amount of time you have before
Images expire. Because you will be able to spread the Illusions out further,
you will be capable of even more complex and mind bending plays! The increased
Health on your Images will also assist you with efficient Mercenary clear times,
and even makes solo boss captures faily easy to pull off.
Several of the Talents that affect Wind Walk cause
unique effects, almost like an Ability.
Wind Strider is
an amazing Talent because it allows you to activate these effects much more
often. If you have two or more Talents invested into Wind Walk, this is almost
irrefutably the best choice at Level 20.
Blademaster's Pursuit is primarily useful for because of the
increased Move Speed. This Talent can be a good alternative to
Wind Strider
if you did not take
Way of the Wind at Level 1.
10. ChangeLog
- 04 Mar. 2018: Talent section updated to reflect current meta.
- 14 Dec. 2017: Talent section updated to reflect Samuro's rework.



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