Valla Build Guide “Be vewy, vewy quiet...”

1. Valla's Overview

Valla is a highly versatile and flexible ranged damage dealer. Her strong points are her exceptional single-target damage and on-demand area of effect burst damage. However, her relative fragility makes her a high priority target for the enemy.

2. Valla's Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Very high single-target and area of effect damage
• Good waveclear
• Good poke
• Strong in all phases of the game
• Versatile; fits any team composition
• Flexible Talents that allow her to adapt to many different situations

Weaknesses

• Dependent on good positioning
• Low base Health
• Vulnerable to crowd control

3. Valla's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Multishot Build

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The Multishot build focuses on improving the aforementioned Ability. It provides a remarkable amount of area of effect damage at the expense of some single-target damage potential. Furthermore, one of the key Talents for the build, Punishment, must be built up through Hatred to see any real payoff, making it twice as important to maintain Hatred Stacks. Other key Talents include Arsenal, which modestly increases Multishot's damage all while reducing its Cooldown, and Frost Shot, which greatly improves the Ability's range on top of providing you with a strong movement speed reduction effect. This build works under most circumstances, though is generally more useful when your team lacks proper waveclear.

Hungering Arrow Build

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The Hungering Arrow build focuses on improving the aforementioned Ability. This build provides a remarkable amount of single-target burst damage and self-sustain, and does exceptionally well against Mercenary Camps and Bosses, thanks to the Monster Hunter Talent. This build is particularly popular on the Battlefield of Eternity Map, where Hungering Arrow can be used to make very short work of the Immortal that must be destroyed. The build also sees use against some of Valla's counters, most notably against Stealthed Assassins, as it provides the most burst survivability through the Siphoning Arrow and Repeating Arrow Talent combo.

Rancor Build

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Important notice: Although we list this popular build for the sake of thoroughness, it must be noted that it does not fare very well in competitive play. Platinum-level and above players are typically expected to play Hungering Arrow- or Multishot-centric builds.

The Rancor build seeks to maximise the potential of Valla's Basic Attacks. Out of all potential Valla builds, this one has the highest sustained damage dealing potential against Heroes. This strength comes at the expense of some survivability, and burst damage potential as Valla must attack for an extended period of time to build Hatred stacks to ramp her damage up. As such, this build is generally unsuitable against Stealthed Heroes, who usually try to burst Valla down, though it generally does enough damage to seriously threaten even the toughest of tanks.

See our Talents page for further information »

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4. Valla's Synergies and Counters

Valla synergizes with

Valla is at her best when something stands between her and her enemies. Large, Healthy Tanks are particularly desirable as they draw attention away from Valla, and often provide their own form of crowd control for potential follow-ups. Otherwise, anything that can protect Valla is also desirable. Shielding effects are particularly impactful due to her limited Health pool.

Valla is countered by

As a frail ranged Assassin, Valla tends to naturally struggle against other high damage Assassins who have the ability to effectively gap close past her Vault's range or otherwise sneak up on her. With little in the way of self-peeling, make sure to stay near your healer when possible against such Heroes, and make no bold attempts at outplaying your opponents.

5. Valla's Maps

Valla's stronger maps

Valla's average maps

Valla's weaker maps

None

As a well-rounded ranged Assassin, Valla is not particularly strong nor weak on many Maps. In general, it is better for her to remain accompanied while laning due to her relative frailty, something that should not be an issue for most Maps. A special mention should be made for Battlefield of Eternity, however, where her Hungering Arrow build really shines.

6. Valla's Tips and Tricks

• Hatred empowers Valla's Basic Attacks and increases her movement speed; try and attack something at least once every 5 seconds so that your stacks do not fall off.
• Hungering Arrow has a high Mana cost and will home unto undesirable targets, such as Minions and Summons; avoid using the Ability unless it is going to deal useful damage.
• Multishot is your main waveclearing tool. Its wide area of effect also makes it excellent for checking hidden areas, revealing Stealthed Heroes, and dismounting opponents.
• Vault can be used offensively, as a gap-closer, and defensively, to create space between yourself and opponents and dodge Abilities. Limit your offensive use of the Ability, as it leaves you vulnerable.
• Strafe's reliability goes up as opponents use up their crowd control Abilities; keep track of their Cooldowns, and remain on the move so as to minimise the chance you will be interrupted.
• Rain of Vengeance is better used as a follow-up or as a self-peeling tool than merely for dealing damage.

7. Role in the Current Meta

Valla's outstanding single-target sustained damage allows her to put an extreme amount of pressure on anything within her Basic Attack range. Her on-demand area of effect damage and poke allow her to reliably deal damage in all situations. A high base movement speed, Vault, and Frost Shot grant her respectable options for self-peeling, though they do not help her against crowd control.

Valla is extremely strong against Support-heavy metas, as such Heroes do not typically have the tools to force her to play defensively to reduce her effectiveness. Picking her early during drafts may incite opposing players to choose dive-oriented Heroes, which must rely on playing aggressively and on very good coordination to succeed against her. Picking her later in a draft may leave her completely uncountered and able to freely deal her damage.

8. Changelog