Valeera Build Guide “The pleasure is mine.”

Last updated on Jun 05, 2022 at 01:00 by Derenash 48 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for Valeera, a Melee Assassin in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.

1.

Valeera's Overview

Valeera is a Melee Assassin who uses Stealth and a unique Combo Point system to deal devastating amounts of burst damage to her enemies. Combo Points are generated every time Valeera strikes an enemy Hero with one of her Basic Abilities, which can then be spent on a powerful finishing move called Eviscerate Icon Eviscerate. Unlike other Stealth based Heroes, Valeera is able to activate Vanish Icon Vanish at will, allowing her to regularly shift back and forth between the shadows to trick and deceive her opponents. When Stealthed, Valeera has access to a whole new set of Abilities commonly referred to as "openers", as these Abilities are used to break Valeera from stealth and be the opening sequence to her unrelenting Ability combo.

Each one of Valeera's three openers providers her with a different bonus; Ambush Icon Ambush can be used for instantaneous pure damage, Cheap Shot Icon Cheap Shot for hard crowd-control in the form of a Stun, and Garrote Icon Garrote for damage-over-time and a crippling Silence. It is important for players to recognize which opener will best suit Valeera's needs at that exact moment, and being able to recognize this is an integral step in pursuing mastery of Valeera's kit.

2.

Valeera's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
  • +Very high skill ceiling
  • +Anti-Assassin, can take down high priority targets deep within the backline
  • +Exceptional at roaming and ganking
  • +Diverse kit with lots of utility
  • +Potential for various playstyles
  • +Strong crowd control
  • +High HP pool
X Weaknesses
  • -Dependent on Level 4 and 7 Talents
  • -Weak PvE
  • -Particularly susceptible to heavy crowd-control
  • -Very hard learning curve
  • -Incredibly weak when revealed
  • -Suffers against coordinated teams
3.

Valeera's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Sinister Strike Build

Recommended
Level 1 Crippling Poison Icon Combat Readiness Icon ?
Level 4 Relentless Strikes Icon
Level 7 Mutilate Icon
Level 10 Smoke Bomb Icon Cloak of Shadows Icon ?
Level 13 Strangle Icon Blind Icon ?
Level 16 Seal Fate Icon
Level 20 Elusiveness Icon

Valeera's Sinister Strike Build focuses on Talents that cause Sinister Strike Icon Sinister Strike to become one of Valeera's primary sources of burst damage. Relentless Strikes Icon Relentless Strikes at Level 4 will allow Valeera to cast Sinister strike more regularly and Mutilate Icon Mutilate at Level 7 will vastly increase Sinister Strike's overall damage. When Seal Fate Icon Seal Fate is used in conjunction with Mutilate, Valeera will be able to deal a very large amount of instantaneous burst damage when leaping onto a target effected by a Silence, Root, or Stun (which conveniently can be provided through Cheap Shot Icon Cheap Shot or Garrote Icon Garrote).

Limpanjo Build

Situational
Level 1 Crippling Poison Icon Combat Readiness Icon ?
Level 4 Relentless Strikes Icon
Level 7 Mutilate Icon
Level 10 Smoke Bomb Icon Cloak of Shadows Icon ?
Level 13 Death From Above Icon
Level 16 Assassinate Icon
Level 20 Elusiveness Icon

Valeera's Limpanjo Build is dedicated to Limpanjo, a well-known multiple Grand Master Valeera main from Europe, who was kind enough to share his input on our Valeera Build Guide. The Build itself is quite similar to the Sinister Strike Build with few exceptions. At Level 1, Combat Readiness Icon Combat Readiness can be picked to provide very strong protection against enemy Basic Attacks, which allows Valeera to be played more safely both as a Melee Assassin in the 4-man capable to gank or as an Offlaner. At Level 13 and 16, the Build takes a unique path. There, the focus lies on taking down individual (and preferably) isolated targets by opening Valeera's combo with Ambush Icon Ambush. Thanks to Death From Above Icon Death From Above, Valeera is able to close the distance to her target nicely while also reducing the cooldown on Vanish Icon Vanish, which in return allows her to strike from the shadows again more quickly. Assassinate Icon Assassinate works great with previous burst damage Talents, most importantly, Mutilate Icon Mutilate at Level 7, as it lowers her targets Armor even further and deals extra damage as well.

4.

Valeera's Synergies and Counters

V Valeera synergizes with

Valeera peforms best with Heroes who have a reliable source of crowd-control, high burst damage, or both. Besides those, Garrosh and E.T.C. are good partners, because they can easily displace an enemy for Valeera to silence and kill. Furthermore, Abathur is a great pick with her. He will turn Valeera into an even more dangerous roamer, capable of killing targets anywhere before they leave silence.

X Valeera is countered by

Valeera is countered by Heroes who are able to easily break her from Stealth, as this will prevent her from being able to cast any of her opener abilities. She also is very susceptible to crowd-control as her overextended positioning within the enemy backline will often cause her to be quickly taken down once rendered immobile.

5.

Valeera's Maps

Valeera's stronger maps
Blackheart's Bay Cursed Hollow Dragon Shire Sky Temple Warhead Junction
Valeera's average maps
Alterac Pass Battlefield of Eternity Braxis Holdout Garden of Terror Infernal Shrines Towers of Doom Hanamura Temple Volskaya Foundry
Valeera's weaker maps
Tomb of the Spider Queen

Valeera is best suited for larger maps with multiple Objective locations, as she will be able to roam around the Battleground looking for vulnerable enemy Heroes. Due to her limited waveclear and overall PvE potential she tends to suffer on maps where clearing large amounts of enemy Minions or Mercenaries is of high priority.

6.

Valeera's Tips and Tricks

  • Only use Blade Flurry Icon Blade Flurry for PvE purposes or if you started a combo with Ambush Icon Ambush, or you will run out of energy very quickly.
  • The Unrevealable portion of Vanish Icon Vanish allows Valeera to pass through other units, and may be used mid-fight to trick enemies with new positioning.
  • Do not hesitate to use Sinister Strike Icon Sinister Strike to dodge powerful enemy skillshots or even to disengage from a losing fight.
  • Resist the temptation to use Cheap Shot Icon Cheap Shot to lock down enemies. This ability is mainly used for the blind. It is better to use Garrote Icon Garrote to crowd control.
  • Try to use Eviscerate Icon Eviscerate when 3 Combo Points are available to maximize its damage output.
  • The Silence portion of Garrote Icon Garrote can be used to interrupt an enemy's channeled ability.
  • Do not be afraid to use Cloak of Shadows Icon Cloak of Shadows liberally, as the cooldown is rather short for a Heroic Ability. In 1v1 scenarios, Cloak of Shadows should be used just as Garrote Icon Garrote's silence ends, so enemies cannot interrupt your damage with abilities.
7.

Valeera's Role in the Current Meta

Valeera is a great counter-pick against low-Health, high-priority targets; particularly Assassins known for their massive damage output such as Valla or Kael'thas. Valeera's damage and utility works best as a followup, first allowing her team to initiate before heading into the mix herself. She pairs excellently with Heroes who provide reliable crowd-control alongside high burst damage. When attempting to enter combat, it is incredibly important for Valeera to avoid all damage (particularly area of effect), as this will break her from Stealth and ruin her chance to get off an opener Ability.

Due to her relatively weak PvE and her strong ganking potential, Valeera should spend most of the match roaming between lanes, looking for overextended enemy Heroes to pick off. Despite the fact that Valeera's true potential is best unfolded when she is able to roam and rotate between lanes, she is a respectable solo laner and can be played there if no other options are available for your team.

8.

Changelog

  • 05 Jun. 2022 (talents page): Smoke Bomb's relevance updated to reflect meta development.
  • 05 Jun. 2022 (this page): Builds updated updated to reflect meta development.
  • 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Talents updated for the latest balance patch.
  • 20 Jan. 2021 (abilities page): Smoke Bomb description updated.
  • 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide updated for the latest balance patch.
  • 25 May 2020 (this page): Updated Limpanjo Build.
  • 01 May 2020 (abilities page): Applied small additions to be more informative on how to use Abilities.
  • 01 May 2020 (this page): Updated whole guide to better reflect current meta.
  • 08 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to reflect current meta.
  • 16 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added the current Anomaly (Experience Globes) to the guide.
  • 14 Jul. 2019 (talents page): Completely overhauled and updated Valeera's talents and builds in accordance with the recent Balance Update.
  • 14 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Applied some minor updates to Valeera's ability section.
  • 14 Jul. 2019 (this page): Updated Valeera's intro section.
  • 15 Dec. 2017 (talents page): Talents and their discussions have been updated for the latest balance patch.
  • 15 Dec. 2017 (this page): Guide has been updated to reflect latest balance patch, detailing Stealth rework (Vanish Build has been removed).
  • 26 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Removed Cold Blood from Level 20 Talent options; Talent Builds previously containing Cold Blood have been adjusted accordingly.
  • 14 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Adjusted Crippling Poison's duration from 3 to 5 seconds and the talent is now deemed situational (was not recommended before).
  • 14 Apr. 2017 (abilities page): Adjusted Cloak of Shadows's cooldown duration from 25 to 15 seconds.
  • 04 Feb. 2017 (talents page): Added Vanish talent build and added talent discussions.
  • 04 Feb. 2017 (this page): Added Vanish talent build.
  • 25 Jan. 2017 (this page): Guide added.
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