Valeera Talents

Level	Choices
1	✘︎ ✘︎ ? ✓
4	✓ ✘︎ ✘︎ ✘︎
7	✓ ✘︎ ✘︎
10	✓ ?
13	? ? ?
16	✓ ✓ ✘︎
20	✘︎ ? ? ✓

Vigor and all the other Talents that add energy are wasted in Valeera. With Relentless Strikes, and as long as Valeera does not use Blade Flurry in fights, she will not run out of energy. We do not recommend this Talent.

Subtlety's active Energy regeneration is usually not enough to make a noticeable difference during team fights and as such remains an underwhelming Talent.

Combat Readiness can be a useful Talent option should Valeera find herself matched up against multiple Basic Attack damage dependent Heroes, or play the early stages of the game as an Offlaner.

Crippling Poison adds an additional source of crowd-control to Valeera's kit, which helps her chase down squishy targets in the backline. This Talent is essential when going for Mutilate, since it will enable you to keep hitting your target, ignoring the reduced mobility from it.

Relentless Strikes greatly reduces Valeera's Energy Cost of Sinister Strike. This grants her more uses of Sinister Strike and Eviscerate in a fight, increasing her damage output throughout the game.

Hemorrhage is too situational to become a recommended Talent. The requirement of constantly attacking targets affected by Garrote is too specific in many situations to justify picking this Talent.

Initiative gives all of Valeera's openers an additional combo point. While this sounds good at first, it becomes a futile Talent relatively quickly, since Valeera's primary source of damage is Sinister Strike and not Eviscerate.

Wound Poison's effect is too situational to make it a better choice than Relentless Strikes, which greatly empowers Valeera's damage output throughout the game.

Mutilate is an important Talent and marks Valeera's first significant power spike, as it really ramps up her single-target damage significantly and works very well together with Relentless Strikes at Level 4.

Fatal Finesse adds area of effect damage to Valeera's kit. However, the damage it provides is relatively insignificant and also weakens Valeera's main purpose, which is single-target burst damage. Thus, we do not recommend picking this Talent.

Slice and Dice's damage is significantly lower than Mutilate's, which is why we consider it the inferior choice between the two.

At this Level, you gain access to Heroic Abilities. If you want to read more about them, check the dedicated section in the Abilities and Strategy page.

Smoke Bomb is the first option of Valeera's two defensive Heroic Abilities. When Valeera activates Smoke Bomb, she is able to stand within its area-of-effect to become Unrevealable, unaffected by Unit Collision, and much harder to kill with a 60% reduction in damage taken. Being "Unrevealable" means that Valeera will remain not only untargetable but completely invisible to her opponents while under its effect. This implies that enemy Heroes will not be able to strike Valeera with Basic Attacks or targeted Abilities. Smoke Bomb is incredibly strong against Assassins who rely heavily on Basic Attacks as their primary source of damage. Smoke Bomb is a phenomenal Ability which allows Valeera to dart back and forth within a crowd picking off any unfortunate Hero who remains within its presence. Make sure to always cast Smoke Bomb within close proximity to team fights to ensure that enemies will not be able to simply walk away from the area and completely negate the Ability altogether. Valeera may also cast Vanish during Smoke Bomb and simply walk away from its area-of-effect. This will trick many players into thinking that Valeera is still within the smoke and will cause them to wait for her to appear after its duration.

Cloak of Shadows is Valeera's second Heroic Ability choice and much like Smoke Bomb provides her with a nice amount of defensive utility. Cloak of Shadows may be heavily considered if Valeera finds herself matched up against a crowd-control heavy team composition, as that tends to be one of her greatest weaknesses. The 15-second cooldown of Cloak of Shadows is surprisingly low for a Heroic Ability and makes it a rather strong choice. Because of this, Valeera should not be afraid to use Cloak of Shadows anytime she fears mortal danger is imminent when caught in the midst of hard crowd-control or heavy Spell Damage.

DISCLAIMER: every Talent in this tier provides Valeera with some sort of bonus utility to her kit. Each one of these Talents is beneficial in its own way and the specific Map and team compositions will greatly determine which is best for each given match.

Death From Above's reduced cooldown of Vanish allows Valeera to use her Stealth more quickly in between skirmishes, which also means she can use her openers more frequently. All these factors make Death From Above a considerable choice.

Blind is probably the most situational of all of Valeera's Level 13 Talents. This Talent should only ever be considered should the teams primary target of focus rely heavily on Basic Attacks to function (such as The Butcher).

Strangle is similar to Blind in that it is always situational depending on Valeera's matchup. Strangle is most useful against Assassins who utilize heavy-hitting Basic Abilities to deal damage, so Mages like Jaina.

Seal Fate is an integral component to the maximize Sinister Strike's damage potential, as it not only increases the amount of damage it deals but also lowers the Energy cost needed to execute a 3 Combo Point Eviscerate.

Assassinate provides Valeera with great burst damage against targets in the backline, as long as they remain isolated from allies. We recommend this Talent if the enemy team has a relatively weak frontline and several squishy targets in the backline that lack escape mechanisms.

Thistle Tea's extra energy is only useful if Valeera wants to use Blade Flurry in her combo. However, the extra damage provided by the other options at this tier are greater than Blade Flurry's damage.

The additional Movement Speed bonus of Elusiveness allows Valeera to position much faster during team fights after casting Vanish. The speed of Valeera while under the effect of Elusiveness is actually 10% faster than that while mounted. Because of this, from Level 20 and on, Valeera should always move around the battlefield Stealthed rather than mounted, as she will be able to rotate faster. Elusiveness is also very powerful when when attempting to peel away from an enemy Hero or when pursuing one who happens to be fleeing Valeera.

At this point in the match, Adrenaline Rush feels somewhat redundant and does not seem to help Valeera too much in one specific area. Other Talents may have already been selected to ease the burden of Energy management and in terms of Utility, Adrenaline Rush feels outclassed by the Movement Speed bonus of Elusiveness.

Enveloping Shadows is a situational Talent which should be considered if (at this point in the match), Valeera constantly finds herself being picked off and burst down very quickly. Using Vanish will grant Valeera a free cast of Cloak of Shadows which greatly increases her mobility and survivability. Keep in mind that a single death after Level 20 can often times result in a loss; something to consider if Valeera is having trouble staying up in fights.

Rupture can be a wortwhile investment if additional damage is needed. While Elusiveness' bonus Movement Speed is very potent, the additional damage over time, especially on targets that lack escape mechanisms, can definitely help secure kills.