Thrall Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Thrall. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Thrall's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Thrall's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
---|---|
1 | ✓ ? ? |
4 | ? ? ✓ |
7 | ? ✓ ? |
10 | ? ✓ |
13 | ✘︎ ✓ ? |
16 | ? ✓ ? |
20 | ✘︎ ✓ ? ? ? |
Thrall's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Chain Lightning Build
RecommendedThrall's Chain Lightning Build allows him to safely deal poke damage to enemy Heroes before the real team fight starts and then engage when they are not full Health.
Thunderstorm at Level 16 greatly empowers this kind of playstyle because it makes Chain Lightning deal more damage every time you switch target. Mana Tide at Level 4 lets you do that more often.
Choose this Build when the enemy team suffers against poke damage because they do not have a good Healer for that or they completely lack one.
Feral Spirit Build
AdvancedThrall's Feral Spirit Build allows him to take down melee Heroes more easily with the help of percent-based damage in the late game.
Alpha Wolf at Level 16 allows you to deal more damage on enemy Heroes that have high maximum Health (for example Azmodan). Frostwolf Pack at Level 4, once you complete its Quest, will let you do that more often. Alternatively, you can pick Feral Resilience at Level 4 to increase your survivability against Heroes with slow but heavy-hitting Basic Attacks.
Choose this Build when you want to burst down the enemy frontline, when the enemy team has more than 2 Heroes with high maximum Health, or to duel better on some Maps (notably Braxis Holdout).
ARAM Build
ARAMThrall's ARAM Build allows him to safely deal poke damage to enemy Heroes before the real team fight starts and then engage when they are not full Health.
Thunderstorm at Level 16 greatly empowers this kind of playstyle because it makes Chain Lightning deal more damage every time you switch target. Mana Tide at Level 4 lets you do that more often.
Level 1 Talents for Thrall
Quest: Kill Minions or Heroes within 1.5 seconds of hitting them with Chain Lightning.
Reward: After killing 10 enemies, reduce the Mana cost of Chain Lightning from 40 to 20.
Reward: After killing 20 enemies, gain a second charge of Chain Lightning.
Echo of the Elements is a good Quest-based Talent that, after last-hitting enough enemy Minions, gives a second charge of Chain Lightning and halves its Mana cost.
The second charge directly increases burst damage and poke damage and indirectly increases your self-sustain by allowing you to trigger Frostwolf Resilience more often.
Keep in mind that this Quest can be stacked very efficiently with the help of nearby allied Heroes, Minions, or even Structures because it does not matter who delivers the killing blow to a Minion recently hit by Chain Lightning.
Repeatable Quest: Hitting at least 2 Heroes with a single use of Chain Lightning increases the damage of its bounces by 12, up to 360.
Reward: After hitting multiple Heroes 30 times, Chain Lightning prioritizes bouncing to Heroes.
Crash Lightning is a situational Talent that requires Chain Lightning to bounce from a Hero to another with a single use. Consequently, this Talent can only be used when Thrall is not played as Offlaner, else he will not be able to complete its Quest before the late game.
You should keep this Talent only if you expect to complete its Quest within 7-8 minutes. Since the bonus damage it gives does not scale as you level up, it gives a bigger percentage increase when completed earlier.
For 8 seconds after hitting an enemy with Chain Lightning, Thrall's next Basic Attack against them grants a stack of Frostwolf Resilience. If the target is an enemy Hero, then he also deals damage to them equal to 3% of their maximum Health and healing for the same amount.
Passive: Increase the number of Chain Lightning bounces by 1.
Rolling Thunder is a good Talent that basically transfers part of the enemy Hero's maximum Health to Thrall, something that makes it particularly effective against Offlaners with high maximum Health (for example Yrel).
Level 4 Talents for Thrall
Heroes damaged by Feral Spirit grant 4 stacks of Frostwolf Resilience and 2 stacks of Feral Resilience, granting 75 Physical Armor against the next incoming Hero Basic Attack.
Stacks are consumed on the next cast of Feral Spirit.
Feral Resilience is a situational Talent that helps charging Frostwolf Resilience and provides Thrall protection from Basic Attacks, valuable when playing against Heroes with slow but heavy-hitting Basic Attacks (such as Leoric) and really bad when playing against Heroes with fast-hitting Basic Attacks (like D.Va). If you miss enemy Heroes with Feral Spirit, this Talent gives no value.
Quest: Hit 6 Heroes with Feral Spirit. Progress is lost on death and when Thrall fails to hit a Hero.
Reward: Reduce the cooldown and Mana cost of Feral Spirit by 50%.
Frostwolf Pack is a good Quest-based Talent that reduces the cooldown and Mana cost of Feral Spirit when completed. When playing as Offlaner, remember that dying or using Feral Spirit on Minions rather than Heroes will make you lose all the stacks.
We recommend choosing this Talent only when playing in the 4-man because you can easily follow-up the crowd control provided by your Tank and drastically reduce the chances to miss and reset the Quest progress.
You can pick this Talent together with Alpha Wolf at Level 16 to get more value from it as the cooldown reduction provided will let you cast Feral Spirit more often and thus boost your damage more often.
Frostwolf Resilience restores 15 Mana and reduces Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds.
Mana Tide is a good Talent that increases the self-sustain provided by Frostwolf Resilience. The additional Mana is there to compensate for the cooldown reduction, but can be helpful to keep your Mana at a good level when not using your Abilities often.
Level 7 Talents for Thrall
Repeatable Quest: Basic Attacks against Heroes while Windfury's Movement Speed bonus is active increase Attack Damage by 1.
Reward: After gaining 20 Attack Damage, increase the Movement Speed bonus of Windfury to 40%.
Reward: After gaining 40 Attack Damage, Thrall permanently gains 15% increased Movement Speed.
Maelstrom Weapon is a decent Quest-based Talent that increases the temporary Movement Speed given by Windfury after unlocking the first Reward and permanent Movement Speed after unlocking the second Reward.
Pick this Talent only when you need the extra Movement Speed and you can easily get its Quest completed during the game.
- Cooldown: 1 seconds
Activate to consume 8 stacks of Ancestral Wrath, damaging a target enemy Hero for 15% of their maximum Health over 3 seconds, and healing Thrall for 150% of the damage dealt.
Gain 1 stack of Ancestral Wrath every time Frostwolf Resilience activates.
Ancestral Wrath is a strong Talent that deals percent-based damage—particularly effective if used on enemy Heroes with high amounts of maximum Health (for example Deathwing)—and heals Thrall for 1.5 times that amount—drastically increasing his survivability.
We highly recommend this Talent because it makes Thrall compete against most Heroes which you could face in the offlane while also giving you extra survivability during team fights.
After using an Ability, your next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% additional damage.
Follow Through is a situational Talent that increases Thrall's Attack Damage after using any Ability (including Heroic Abilities), something that may help you win the offlane against specific enemy Heroes.
Pick this Talent when you want more burst damage, especially against Heroes who do not have high maximum Health.
Level 10 Talents for Thrall
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.
- Mana: 75
- Cooldown: 70 seconds
After 0.5 seconds, sunder the earth in a long line, dealing 290 (+4% per level) damage and shoving enemies to the side, Stunning them for 1 second.
Sundering is a good Heroic Ability that damages and Stuns enemy Heroes hit, a powerful effect to have at your disposal when your team needs an interrupt to enable and/or secure (for example against Anduin with Holy Word: Salvation).
- Mana: 90
- Cooldown: 100 seconds
After 0.5 seconds, summon a massive Earthquake that pulses every 4 seconds. Each pulse lasts 2 seconds, Slowing all enemies in the area by 50%, and deals 50 (+4% per level) damage to enemy Heroes. Does 3 pulses.
Earthquake is a strong Heroic Ability that damages and Slows enemy Heroes in the area each time it pulses, something that makes it really easy for your team to fight because the enemy Heroes will have a hard time moving around. While it is powerful on its own, this Talent has a pretty obvious synergy between the huge Slow provided and other area of effect Abilities that require the enemy Heroes to not move that much in order for them to hit (such as Apocalypse by Diablo).
While not as obvious as the synergy above, this Heroic Ability can also be used to Slow the enemy team while increasing the Movement Speed of your own team (for example Bloodlust by Rehgar).
Level 13 Talents for Thrall
Windfury attacks grant twice as many stacks of Frostwolf Resilience.
Grace Of Air is a weak Talent that gives Thrall more self-sustain while using Windfury, mostly because it gets overshadowed by Frostwolf's Grace.
Frostwolf Resilience can be activated to instantly heal. This healing is increased by up to 100% based on Thrall's missing health.
Frostwolf's Grace is a strong Talent that allows you to insantly get healed by Frostwolf Resilience, regardless of the number of stacks you have and without consuming them. The amount healed is equal to the baseline value plus the percentage of maximum Health that Thrall is missing (for example, at 40% maximum Health it will heal 60% more).
An effect like this helps when Thrall finds himself in dangerous situations and needs burst-healing, however, it can occasionally be used to increase your self-sustain when you do not expect a team fight for the next dozen of seconds (enough time to have it off cooldown again).
- Cooldown: 45 seconds
Every 45 seconds, gain 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy Ability and subsequent Abilities for 4 seconds. Frostwolf Resilience reduces this cooldown by 10 seconds.
Can be toggled to allow or prevent this talent from triggering automatically.
Spirit Shield is a situational Talent that should be considered if the enemy team features a Hero with a powerful heavy-hitting Ability (such as Pyroblast by Kael'thas) because in that case the Spell Armor provided can absorb more damage than Frostwolf's Grace could heal.
Level 16 Talents for Thrall
The final strike of Windfury hits 3 times for 75% normal damage.
Tempest Fury is a decent Talent that provides Thrall additional burst damage while using Windfury. Before picking this Talent, remember that the Ability it empowers is countered by Blind effects, so the same is true for this Talent.
Chain Lightning Slows targets by 8% for 2 seconds.
Quest: Targeting a Hero directly with Chain Lightning increases this Slow by 8%, up to an additional 40%.
Reward: While at a 40% bonus, Chain Lightning's damage is increased by 25%.
Bonuses are reset if Chain Lightning is used on the same Hero it was last used on, or if Thrall dies.
Thunderstorm is a good Quest-based Talent that increases your overall damage output, especially in the form of poke damage.
The increasing Slow provided by this Talent as you progress with its Quest is not that impactful, but it becomes powerful once the Quest gets closer to its completion. At that point you can use it to engage on enemy Heroes who are trying to flee.
Once fully stacked, make sure to avoid casting Chain Lightning on the same enemy Hero as primary target twice in a row, else you will have to stack the Quest again; however, it is not a bad move to give up the Quest progress to secure a kill. Dying will reset the Quest as well.
For 3 seconds after a Hero is hit by Feral Spirit, Thrall's Basic Attacks against them deal an additional 3% of the target's maximum Health as damage.
Passive: Increase the duration of Feral Spirit's Root to 1.5 seconds.
Alpha Wolf is a good Talent that gives Thrall a solid amount of percent-based damage, useful when playing against Heroes with high maximum Health (such as Stitches), while also increasing the Root duration.
Ideally, you want to combo Feral Spirit with Windfury to maximize Thrall's damage output.
Level 20 Talents for Thrall
Lower the cooldown of Sundering by 40 seconds. After Sundering impacts, it leaves behind an impassable rift, blocking unit movement for 3 seconds.
Worldbreaker is a weak Talent that makes Sundering impassable terrain for a few seconds. This is often counter productive because you and your team will not always be able to reach the desired enemy Hero, unless you manage to perfectly split the enemy formation in two parts. The cooldown reduction may occasionally help you cast Sundering twice in a single team fight or use it for two consecutive team fights with low downtime between them.
Allies within the Earthquake area gain a Shield equal to 15% of their maximum Health each pulse. This shield lasts 4 seconds.
Earthen Shields is a strong Talent that provides a powerful Shield to every allied Hero in the area covered by Earthquake when it pulses, something that can deny a lot of damage and makes it useful in any situation.
Basic Attacks reduce Thrall's Basic and Heroic Ability cooldowns by 0 seconds, tripled against Heroes.
Elemental Momentum is a decent Talent that makes your Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of your Abilities by 0.25 seconds. The cooldown reduction provided is tripled against Heroes.
Tempest Fury at Level 16 allows you to get slightly more value from this Talent by adding 2 Basic Attacks to Windfury.
Basic Attacks deal 20% more damage and Slow enemy Movement Speed by 20% for 1 second.
Nexus Blades is a situational Talent that makes Thrall deal more damage with Basic Attack and helps him stick on the target enemy.
Due to the importance of Earthen Shields and the utility of Wind Rush being superior, we only recommend this Talent when going for Core.
- Cooldown: 80 seconds
Activate to immediately teleport to a target location and gain Windfury.
Wind Rush is a good Talent that gives Thrall a powerful mobility tool that can be used either as an escape or as a gap-closer.
When used, this Talent gives Thrall a free Windfury effect that benefits from any related Talent. What it means is that you should not use Windfury right before or right after using Wind Rush, but wait a few seconds to make the first Windfury effect expire and then use the other one, unless you just need the teleport effect.
When you pick Sundering at Level 10, you generally want to pick this Talent because it allows you to quickly reach the target of your engage and thus deal more damage to them while they are Stunned. That said, you should save it as an escape tool when you feel in danger.
Changelog
- 17 Oct. 2024: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 30 Mar. 2022: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Mar. 2022: ARAM Build added.
- 28 Sep. 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 06 Jul. 2021: Builds updated.
- 25 Feb. 2021: New layout.
- 01 Dec. 2020: Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 05 Oct. 2020: Builds updated.
- 25 Jun. 2020: Talent Build updated to reflect the current metagame.
- 13 May 2020: Talent Build fully revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
- Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
- 04 Apr. 2020: Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
- 23 Jan. 2020: Updated Thrall's Solo Lane Build. Rolling Thunder is now Recommended.
- 19 Dec. 2019: Updated Rolling Thunder's decription and labelled it Situational for the time being until further play testing has been done.
- 02 Sep. 2019: Updated Thrall's Talent Builds and general Talents section to more precisely reflect the current state of the game.
- 10 May 2018: Changed Rolling Thunder from Not Recommended to Recommended and created the Rolling Thunder Build.
- 08 May 2018: Changed Crash Lightning from Recommended to Situational.
- 02 Mar. 2018: Greatly updated Thrall's Talent Builds and their descriptions. Re-evaluated several talents in accordance with the new Crash Lightning Build.
- 18 Jun. 2017: Changed and updated Worldbreaker's description.
- 13 Jun. 2017: Complete revamp of the page, following Thrall's rework in Malthael's patch.
- 12 May 2017: Updated Stonewolves' and Tempest Fury's talent descriptions.
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Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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