UPDATE: We have introduced a Star Rating system to indicate the power level of each talent by game mode (PVP & PVE). This can be understood as follows:
- Gold Star = Very Powerful
- Silver Star = Powerful
- Bronze Star = Satisfactory
- No Star = Poor
Talents Overview
One of the most important decisions you will have to make for each of your Minis, at least initially, is which Talents you want to purchase for them and in what order.
For each 'Upgrade' your Minis receive (except for Legendary), they will unlock a new Talent slot. That means you will unlock your first talent slot for the first upgrade to Uncommon, the second talent slot at Rare and the third and final talent slot at Epic. This is illustrated in the table below, along with the Upgrade costs at each tier.
Upgrade Tier | Star Cost | Arc Energy Cost | Core Required | Level Increase | Talent Slot |
Uncommon | 3 | 500 | Rare (Blue) | +1 | +1 |
Rare | 10 | 2,000 | Rare (Blue) | +1 | +1 |
Epic | 25 | 8,000 | Epic (Purple) | +1 | +1 |
Legendary | 25 | 20,000 | Legendary (Gold) | +1 | - |
Once you have unlocked a Talent slot for a Mini, Talents will begin to occasionally appear for sale in the G.R.I.D.. Each Talent costs 250 Gold (including Leader Talents) but choose carefully as once you have purchased a Talent for your Mini, you won't be able to purchase another Talent until you have unlocked another Talent slot by upgrading your Mini to a higher rarity. You can only have one Talent active on a Mini at any time, so even if you have three Talents purchased, you will have to choose one to activate. This can be changed at any time and at no cost.
It's also very important to note that the level of your Mini will increase by +1 for each Talent you have purchased for that Mini, even if the Talent is not being actively used. So the difference between a Common Mini with no Talents and an Epic Mini with three Talents is +6 levels! Three levels for each of the Upgrades and three levels for each of the Talents purchased.
Full Talent List & Discussion
This list is drafted and kept up-to-date by MJM, (a top 10, 20k honor PVP player that has 160 Sigils + Onyxia), with input from other knowledgeable players. Below we provide a full list of all Talents which are currently available, and break down their usefulness in different scenarios.
Leaders
Troops & Spells
Abomination
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Fresh Meat
|
After hooking a target, deal double damage on the next attack. | ||
Noxious Presence
|
Poison nearby enemies every 3 seconds. | ||
Cannonball
|
On deploy and at 50% health, stun nearby enemies for 5 seconds. |
Fresh Meat is a great talent in PVP, especially during the Gold Rush modifier, because it allows your Abomination to melt dangerous backline targets like Huntress or Witch Doctor. We'd recommend this in most cases when using Abomination in PVP and in certain scenarios for PVE. Noxious Presence is also a relatively safe choice as it is useful in many situations, effectively turning Abomination from a single target tank into a unit which also has decent AoE capabilities. Cannonball is probably the worst option, with Abomination effectively acting as a slightly tanker, much more expensive, Unstable Core Harvest Golem. You might still find some situational use for it in PVE however.
Ancient of War
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Sapling
|
If played for 4 Gold or less, gain 60% Attack Speed. | ||
Behemoth
|
If played for 6 Gold or more, gain Siege damage. | ||
Lightning Rod
|
If played for 4 Gold or more, redirect enemy Spell and Unbound deploys to Ancient of War's current location. |
If you play PVP, Lightning Rod is a safe first choice of Talent and pretty much the only Talent which is used in PVP. By redirecting spells and unbound units to its location, the Ancient of War can be an excellent addition to deathball decks such as Drakkisath. During the Gold Rush modifier this Mini is a staple in almost all decks since you are able to keep one of these on the board most of the time. It's also really strong in certain PVE encounters, nullifying all unbound units and heavy spells like Living Bomb. Honestly the other two talents, Behemoth and Sapling are both awful compared to Lightning Rod so I wouldn't stress too much about which Talent you choose second but I suppose it could be possible to play Ancient of War with Behemoth in a Sneed deck for example.
Angry Chickens
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Snackrifice
|
Nearby Beast allies can consume a Chicken to heal themselves. | ||
Walking Crate
|
Deploy in a protective crate. When destroyed, Chickens emerge. | ||
Furious Fowl
|
Gain Fury. |
Angry Chickens see very little play and none of the Talents are game-changers so it's not going to matter a lot which talent you pick here. Generally Furious Fowl is the most commonly chosen first Talent for this Mini because it increases the DPS of the lil Chickens significantly but if you're playing a Beast deck (for fun) then Snackrifice might make more sense. Walking Crate can allow the Chickens to soak a hit before they deploy which can be useful against some spells.
Anub'arak
Back to TopTalent | Description |
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Regenerate
|
Regenerate 33% health when emerging from a burrow. |
Explosive Shells
|
Scarab Beetles erupt on death, dealing 35 damage to nearby enemies. |
Trap Door
|
At 50% health, summon 6 Scarab Beetles, and temporarily submerge, avoiding attacks. |
Talent discussion pending testing.
As all of Anub'arak's Talents seem viable and we just don't yet know how he will play, we're waiting until we can get our hands on Anub'arak before advising on Talents. Stay tuned!
Arcane Blast
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Amplification
|
Sequential taps increase Radius by 1. | ||
Torrent
|
Gain a level after casting Rank 4. | ||
Arcane Power
|
Spell sequence starts at rank 3 and ends at rank 4. |
If you have not used Arcane Blast before some of these might appear confusing. Arcane Blast is an AoE spell which costs 1g, but once cast you can cast it again with each subsequent cast doubling the damage and increasing the gold cost by 1 (up to 4 gold). Because the spell is often used in Thalnos decks (where you want to cast many spells), Arcane Power is rarely chosen. It's also rare to use the spell four times because it would cost 10 gold to do so, making Torrent harder to play around. Amplification is therefore the most common choice, with it being somewhat useful at least in many scenarios.
Banshee
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Will of the Necropolis
|
Fully Heal the possessed target. | ||
Soul Eruption
|
Possessed targets detonate on death, damaging nearby enemies. | ||
Unholy Frenzy
|
Possessed targets gain Bloodlust for 10 seconds. |
All of these options are fairly decent, however Will of the Necropolis does stand out by massively increasing the versatility of Banshee and should definitely be your first choice. With Will of the Necropolis, the number of situations where the Banshee can be played for value increases significantly as you can now use it (for example) against low HP Leaders pushing your Towers like Rend or Mountain Giants, Gargoyles or Core Hounds in PVE. Soul Eruption and Unholy Frenzy are both great in certain situations but they are much harder to pull off - especially against experienced players in PVP.
Baron Rivendare
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Chill Of The Grave
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Summon Skeletal Mages instead of Warriors. | ||
Death Pact
|
Periodically sacrifice a nearby Skeleton to be Healed. | ||
Skeletal Frenzy
|
Nearby allied Skeletons gain Bloodlust. |
Baron Rivendare is one of the most consistently powerful Leaders in the game in both PVE and PVP because of his passive ability which periodically summons Skeletons at your structures, passively pushing lanes for you. Chill Of The Grave makes this passive even stronger, allowing Rivendare to summon powerful Skeleton Mages instead of Skeletons. These Skeleton Mages have a frost attack which slows enemies on hit, making them incredibly useful. Death Pact is decent as it heals Baron to full so it can keep him in the fight, especially in PVE. Skeleton Frenzy is weaker than the other two options and would likely require you to build a skeleton deck around it to make it useful.
Bat Rider
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Enchanted Vials
|
Increase the size of the flaming pool by 30%. | ||
Flaming Pitch
|
Flaming pool reduces enemy's Speed by 30%. | ||
Fiery Surplus
|
"Accidentally" leave vials on the ground, Burning nearby enemies that touch them. |
Enchanted Vials can be a great pick-up to hit those ranged units near the point of explosion, or to hit units which are spawning near the structure (if attacking Towers or Barracks). In certain PVE encounters this can be really powerful. Flaming Pitch and Fiery Surplus are both much more situational and generally weaker overall so you won't find much use for them. Flaming Pitch is probably a bit more versatile than Fiery Surplus.
Blizzard
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Cold Snap
|
Freeze enemy troops in place. | ||
Brittle Ice
|
Enemies within take 30% additional damage from Physical sources. | ||
Icecrown
|
Summons an additional Blizzard at your Base. |
Cold Snap is a powerful Talent which stops your opponents units in their tracks and immobilizes them while your units can eliminate them - this is particularly effective when you are pushing your opponent's base as you can prevent them from defending with squishy units or fliers. It's also very strong against units like Banshee, Sylvanas and Prowler that require rapid movement in order to be effective. Brittle Ice is very situational and requires you to have some strong Physical damage as a follow up. Icecrown can be useful if you are pushing aggressively in one lane while your opponents pushes the other, but as this often won't reach ranged units, it is weaker than the other options in most cases.
Bloodmage Thalnos
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Bane
|
Playing a Spell increases Attack Speed by 30% for 5 seconds. | ||
Drain Life
|
Gain Lifesteal. | ||
Dominance
|
Spells costing 4 or more grant an additional level. |
When you are playing Bloodmage Thalnos, you are typically running Arcane Blast and other cheap spells like Cheat Death. Most of these spells don't benefit from Dominance, so we would tend to avoid this Talent unless you are building it around a specific deck although it's hard to imagine a high-cost spell deck being effective with Thalnos. Both Drain Life and Bane are both very strong pick-ups but we'd suggest taking Bane first as it turns Thalnos into a heavy-hitting machine gun, especially after he's gained a few levels. With Cheat Death, this can allow you to pack a serious puch. Drain Life is going to keep Thalnos alive that bit longer so you can keep levelling him but do keep in mind that the lifesteal is quite small.
Bog Beast
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Flourish
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Heals received are 30% more effective. | ||
Rampant Growth
|
On death, Root nearby enemies for 6 seconds. | ||
Living Wood
|
Gain Armor until 50% health. |
The Armor from Living Wood turns Bog Beast into a 3-gold tank with about the same health as Ghoul but with both Resistant and Armor, reducing the damage he will take from most sources by 50%. Given the cost of Ghoul and how sticky it is thanks to its cannibalize passive however, it's unlikely that you'd want to take Bog Beast over Ghoul unless you are playing a Cenarion deck. Most of the time Bog Beast will be played with Cenarius, so he can receive the additional 20% empty health, and so he can benefit from Cenarius' healing. When played in a Cenarius deck, Flourish is likely to be the best choice. Flourish will allow you to stick Bog Beast to the board, especially against elemental opponents given his natural Resistance. Rampant Growth is a a somewhat interesting talent, 6 seconds is a long time for a root, however we'd rather have our Bog Beast on the board for longer, sustaining our push and keeping our backline alive, that's why we're unlikely to run this Talent.
Cairne Bloodhoof
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Reincarnation
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After death, Resurrect at 50% Health once. | ||
Plainsrunning
|
Move 50% faster and gain the Fast trait. | ||
Aftershock
|
When Stun expires, affected enemies are Dazed for 5 seconds. |
What's better than one Cairne? Two Cairnes. Reincarnation does what it says on the tin and brings our Tauren Chieftain back into the fight with half health. It's pretty much always useful so it's a safe pick-up and our recommendation in most scenarios. Plainsrunning turns Cairne into a charging bull, allowing him to traverse the map very quickly. This can be useful for capturing chests quickly (especially in PVP). Aftershock can slow down the approach of your opponent's forces once Cairne has been felled by dazing them, it's ok but not as useful as the other Talents in our experience.
Cenarius
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Force of Nature
|
Summon a Treant when a Rooted enemy dies. | ||
Revitalize
|
Allies entering Tranquility trigger an additional heal pulse. | ||
Wild Growth
|
On deploy, Root all enemies for 5 seconds. |
Cenarius doesn't have any terrible talents, so that's the good news. Force of Nature is a strong choice for both PVP and PVE, and our recommended first talent pick. Force of Nature summons Treants whenever a rooted enemy dies, regardless of the source of the root and it can really make your Cenarius deathball that much harder to destroy. The Treants are very squishy but they can still soak a hit or two and their DPS isn't awful. Cenarius really shines as a healer - his AoE Tranquillity healing is very powerful so it stands to reason that Revitalize, which triggers an additional healing pulse when units enter Tranquillity, is also fairly strong. Wild Growth applies a global root. It's most useful in PVP where it can be used to delay your opponent's push, stalling them to allow you to capture nodes or chests for example, or just buying time to build up your deathball.
Chain Lightning
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Brilliant Flash
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On deploy, Stun enemies within for 1 second. | ||
Reverberation
|
Can be cast a second time. | ||
Storm's Reach
|
Dramatically increase jump distance between targets. |
There's no bad talents for Chain Lightning and all of them see use for different decks/playstyles. Your safest choice for a first Talent is probably Storm's Reach as you can get the most consistent value from it. For your second talent, choose dependent upon the meta and the deck you are slotting it into. The one second stun from Brilliant Flash can allow you to manipulate the target that your opponents are attacking by resetting their aggro, as well as allowing your units to dish out a lot of damage safely. It's particularly useful for Minis like Banshee. Reverberation allows you to cast Chain Lightning again, which can be useful in PVP if you are playing against decks that run multiple squishy squads, like Dire Batlings and Harpies. Storm's Reach massively increases the range of Chain Lightning and can also be useful on some PVP maps where you can hit units across multiple lanes.
Charlga Razorflank
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Cavernous Mists
|
Deploy cost reduced by 1. | ||
Spirit Passage
|
Minis played for 5 Gold gain a level and deploy in Stealth. | ||
Nature's Grasp
|
Root two additional nearby targets, but deal half damage. |
Cavernous Mists is pretty great. By reducing Charlga's cost to 1, it introduces a 1-cost cycle into your deck through her passive. This is by far the most used Talent and so it's a safe first choice. Spirit Passage slots into some niche decks, allowing you to stealth (and level up) a variety of 5-cost minions. Keep in mind that with Charlga's passive, as long as you have one 5-cost Mini in your deck, you will be able to activate this Talent on any Mini when the 5-gold cost cycles around. Nature's Grasp can give Charlga quite a strong CC but she remains susceptible to ranged and air units, in addition to being squishy - so it's going to very difficult to actually get much value out of this.
Cheat Death
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Vampirism
|
Affected minis are Healed when dealing damage. | ||
Apocalypse
|
Affected Skeletons Resurrect at your base when they die. | ||
Seal Fate
|
Affected minis gain Bloodlust, but die when the effect ends. |
Vampirism is probably the strongest option overall here as it can give your minions a new lease of life, beyond just saving them. Apocalypse hasn't really seen any play but perhaps in some circumstances you might get some value out of in PVE if you are playing a deck with a lot of skeletons (like Rivendare with Skeletons and/or Skeleton Party). Seal Fate can actually make the spell worse if your minions would otherwise have survived, however it can be useful when played in very aggressive decks on Minis like Sappers or Gargoyle as the additional speed from Bloodlust can allow your Sappers to reach your opponent's buildings before Seal Fate wears off.
Chimaera
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Leviathan
|
Gain 10% additional Health per deploy. | ||
Frost Shock
|
Lightning Ball applies Frost on hit. | ||
Corrosive Breath
|
Poison Spit inflicts twice as much Poison. |
Leviathan operates in a similar manner to Hogger's Ham Hock and also maxes out at 3 stacks. Given that the Chimaera doesn't have a huge health pool, this is usually the best PVP to try and keep your chimaeras sticky to the board. Both of the other talents can be useful however, especially in PVE where your Chimaera is less likely to be targeted. Frost Shock applies an AoE slow to all units hit by the Chimaera's lightning attack. Corrosive Breath will allow Chimaera to do significantly more damage, especially against tanky Armored units like Footmen or Molten Giant so you may wish to consider this. In PVE you can usually keep your Chimaera up and allow it to dish out a tonne of damage with Corrosive Breath.
Core Hounds
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Eternal Bond
|
Resurrection range is unlimited. | ||
Guard Dog
|
Deal 50% additional damage near friendly towers and meeting stones. | ||
Fiery Rebirth
|
On Resurrection, damage nearby enemies. |
Eternal Bond is pretty much the only Talent that is used on this Mini, so you can safely choose it as your first Talent. This is because Eternal Bond allows you to split your Core Hounds across two lanes (by dropping them on the boundary line which separates the lanes), making them much harder to deal with. The cost of Core Hounds is just too great when you are playing either of the other Talents but there might be some very niche situations where Fiery Rebirth might be useful in PVE. Guard Dog, like most other stationary defensive Talents in the game, is very underwhelming - especially for 6g.
Dark Iron Miner
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Dwarven Ambition
|
Gain Fury. | ||
Gold Mine
|
After Mining, drop a proximity mine. Damages nearby enemies when touched. | ||
Dark Iron Armaments
|
After Mining, gain Armored. |
This Mini doesn't have any 'bad' talents but Dwarven Ambition and Gold Mine are certainly stronger in most situations. We'd recommend choosing Dwarven Ambition as your first Talent since you will get consistent value from it in all game modes. Dwarven Ambition gives your Miner the 'Fury' Trait which increase its attack speed, but also importantly it's mining speed. Gold Mine is powerful to booby trap a lane and prevent units from pushing or grabbing that node, useful to make it difficult for your opponent to send their miners there later. Dark Iron Armaments can turn your Dark Iron Miner into a semi-tank, allowing it to help push on after mining if backed up by some additional units but the opportunity cost of the other Talents is too great to justify this Talent in almost all situations.
Darkspear Troll
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Big Bad Voodoo
|
Regenerate 20% health every second. | ||
Headhunting
|
On kill, increase Attack and Movement speed by 10%. Stacks to 50%. | ||
Serpent Sting
|
Gain Poison. |
Your choice here may well depend on whether you want the Troll for PVE or PVP. In PVP, especially when Rocket or Dragon Towers are in rotation, Big Bad Voodoo is the only choice. The talent allows Darkspear Troll to solo Towers and even your opponents Base if he is not contested by other units or spells. Headhunting on the other hand can be a powerful PVE option if your Troll is safe in the backline. Serpent Sting is rarely a better choice than the other options in our opinion.
Deep Breath
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Attunement
|
Allies caught in the effect gain Resist. | ||
Melting Point
|
Damaging Armored enemies removes their Armor. | ||
Double Dragon
|
Cast a second wave in the opposite direction. |
Deep Breath is a PVP staple, and always has been. Despite numerous nerfs and the introduction of Ancient of War, it continues to feature in almost all top meta decks. It is an extremely powerful spell which can clear entire waves and eliminating key units such as Witch Doctor, Gryphon Rider and Necromancer instantly. With the nerf to Double Dragon which increased it's gold cost to 5 (from 4) and the introduction of Ancient of War with Lightning Rod, most PVP decks are now running Melting Point or Attunement Talents. Melting Point is probably your safest choice as first talent since it will provide more consistent value, but you might want to consider taking Attunement if you are running a deck which will benefit from the Resist.
Defias Bandits
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Pick Lock
|
Earn an extra +2 Gold when opening chests. | ||
Deadly Poison
|
Gain Poison. | ||
Last Resort
|
On death, Stun the target for 3 seconds. |
If you have played against Defias Bandits in PVP, you will know how frustrating it is when they manage to secure a +4 gold chest from Pick Lock. It's a great option for both PVP and PVE which can allow you to gain a significant advantage at a low cost and should be taken as the first Talent in almost all situations. However, Defias Bandits do occasionally see some play in PVP play defensive units due to their stun and low cost, especially in turtle decks like Turtle Jaina and especially when Rocket Towers are in rotation. When played in this way, Deadly Poison is also a strong choice as this can allow them to deal some decent damage too but is very rarely going be as useful as Pick Lock. Last Resort can also, in some cases, result in an impactful 6-second stun on a target as the stun applies to each bandit separately but it's very rarely as impactful as either of the other choices. Pick Lock is a safe first pick with Deadly Poison second.
Dire Batlings
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Guano Happens
|
Periodically drop happy little accidents that Poison the first enemy to touch them. | ||
Soundbite
|
Batling bites emite a sonic wave that damage a nearby enemy mini. | ||
Midnight's Call
|
On kill, gain Stealth. |
First of all Dire Batlings are great - for Undead Leaders in particular they fill out that tricky second Undead spot nicely alongside (most of the time) Ghoul. After testing and playing both with and against Dire Batlings in high level PVP, it's clear that Midnight's Call is extremely powerful. On a kill, all of the bats gain stealth and the stealth often reactivates almost immediately when the bats kill additional units, making it hard for your opponent's units to target them. It also of course allows your bats to get up close and personally with ranged units or towers (not base) before being blasted out of the sky. Soundbite is another strong talent as it massively increases the DPS output of this low-cost swarm Mini and is also highly effective in both PVP and PVE content. Guano Happens appears to be much less useful in most scenarios.
Drake
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Mother Drake
|
Periodically summon a Whelp Egg. | ||
Engulfing Flames
|
Damaging enemies Burns them. | ||
Roost
|
Perch on top of a nearby tower, staying there to defend it. |
Mother Drake is our favourite choice here, turning the Drake into a mine-laying machine. This can help you defend lanes while you push others, or halt a counter push. It can also reduce your opponents options since they can't deploy melee units into a lane which is full of whelp eggs. Engulfing Flames can actually deal a lot of damage if the Drake gets its attack off though. Perch doesn't currently see much play but might be situationally useful.
Dryad
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Barrage
|
Favor new targets when possible. | ||
Nature's Swiftness
|
Grant rapid movement speed to an Ally. Ability has one charge. | ||
Thorns
|
Deal damage back to Melee attackers. Damage increases on kill, up to 10 stacks. |
It's worth noting up-front that Dryad is, in her current state, quite a weak unit. This is especially true in PVP where she will be killed in one hit by an equal-level Deep Breath.
These are just initial impressions but I'm expecting Barrage to be the stand-out talent for Dryad. Being able to apply Poison + Root to multiple targets may increase her effectiveness significantly, particularly in PVE where you can keep her on the board. Nature's Swiftness is bound to have some niche applications, for example providing a rapid movement speed boost to a gargoyle or any other siege unit. However, the cost for this is steep at 4-gold for the Dryad. Thorns seems very situational and the fact that you need to kill units to improve it makes it even worse. The Thorns effect appears to be weak and so we're fairy confident this is a 3rd choice Talent.
Earth and Moon
Back to TopTalent | Description |
---|---|
Moonfury
|
Starfall lasts 25% longer. |
Nature's Grace
|
Entangling Roots also grants all allies Resist for 6 seconds. |
Balance
|
Can be cast a second time. |
Despite this now being a fairly old Spell, we are still holding off on advising on Talents because the Spell has been so bad that it hasn't really seen any play at all to date. With the Cenarion family now in play, we might see this change however, so we'll keep you updated.
Earth Elemental
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Obsidian Shard
|
On death, split into two smaller Earth Elementals. | ||
Ready to Rumble
|
Taunt on deploy. | ||
Shrapnel Blast
|
Destroying a tower deals damage to nearby enemies. |
Ready to Rumble can often be redundant, since you will likely place the Earth Elemental such that it acts as a taunt/tank anyway. Shrapnel Blast is situational but often if you are able to take the tower, you have already eliminated the defending units so it's rarely useful. Obsidian Shard is pretty much always useful, since it creates another two units to tank for you and deal out that bit of extra damage. We recommend this Talent in almost all situations.
Eclipse
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Solar Flare
|
Sunfire also Burns enemies. | ||
Umbral Force
|
Moonfire also Stuns enemies for 1 second. | ||
Celestial Focus
|
Spells gain 2 levels if played immediately after Sunfire or Moonfire. |
The first thing to note about this Spell is that, like most Spells, it is best utilised in the hands of Jaina. Playing it with Jaina allows you to trigger major breakpoints, especially with Solar Flare, and allows for devastating combinations when played with Celestial Focus. Therefore most of this discussion will be related to the Spell being utilised in a Jaina deck. We will have to wait and see but I'm sceptical that this Spell will see much play outside of Jaina decks since it will have to compete with Deep Breath and/or Execute.
After playing a considerable amount of matches with Jaina at ~7k (PVP), I can say that Solar Flare is very powerful. The burn increases the damage of Sunfire by 60% (640 vs 400) and is powerful enough to take out some high-cost Minis like Rend (on Gyth), Huntress and Prowler when played with Jaina on the board. Celestial Focus is also very powerful, in all content types but particularly in PVE. By performing the following combo: Jaina > Eclipse > Execute you can unleash insane amounts of damage on Raid Bosses or against any other PVE opponents. This combination (as with any combination that requires a costly set-up) can be harder to pull off in PVP. Umbral Force is the weakest Talent, providing similar functionality to Chain Lightning's Brilliant Flash talent but with no benefit with you rotate back to Sunfire.
Emperor Thaurissan
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Hubris
|
After playing Thaurissan, your next non-Elemental Mini deploys with +2 levels. | ||
Incinerate
|
Lava Spike's Burn is permanent. | ||
Moira's Wit
|
Nearby Burning enemies heal Thaurissan. |
As expected, Hubris is very strong in PVP. Players have been using this talent in PVP with Minis like Harvest Golem, Huntress, Gargoyle and Prowler to great effect. This talent is still strong in PVE but not as strong as it is in PVP. Incinerate will last ~16 seconds for affected boss units in PVP instead of being permanent, but it is still decently powerful. Moira's Wit is very difficult to gain consistent value from so we'd recommend leaving this talent for last as it stands.
Execute
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Bloodthirsty
|
Bloodlust allies within spell area for 10 seconds. | ||
Overpower
|
Knock enemies away from the cast location. | ||
Killing Spree
|
If an enemy is killed, the next Horde mini costs 1 less. |
Bloodthirsty can turn this into an even more powerful spell, sometimes even shifting the tide of the battle by both dishing out some serious damage and buffing all of your troops. This talent is a safe first choice. Killing Spree is also a very good pick-up in PVP since the spell reduces the cost of itself on next use if you don't have any other horde spells. We'd recommend taking this second. Overpower applies a knockback which can be useful in some PVE situations, or defensively in PVP, but it's rarely stronger than the other choices.
Faerie Dragon
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Fae Blessing
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Grant Resist to a nearby Ally. Ability has one charge. | ||
Invisibility
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Gain Stealth. | ||
Phase Shift
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Teleport backwards when attacked. |
Fae Blessing is pretty much the only reason to use Faerie Dragon at the moment and is your safest choice as a first talent. The Mini that receives Resist maintains this buff until death, which turns Faerie Dragon into a powerful support unit akin to Frostwolf Shaman running Earth Shield. Invisibility, which grants Faerie Dragon Stealth steers the Mini away from going full support and can prevent it from being targeted by longer range units like Gryphon but it's only situationally useful. Finally we have Phase Shift. This is probably the weakest of the three Talents, operating similarly to Jaina's Blink and allowing the Faerie Dragon to teleport away from danger. Although it may improve the survivability/stickiness of the Faerie Dragon, it doesn't have much of an impact on it's overall utility or impact when compared with Fae Blessing for example and so we expect to see this used much less.
Fire Elemental
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Immolation Aura
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Periodically damage nearby enemies. | ||
Molten Core
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On death, summon a pool of lava, damaging enemies within. | ||
Fan The Flames
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Taking Elemental damage increases damage dealt by 10%. Stacks to 30%. |
Immolation Aura is great for helping Fire Elemental deal that bit more damage, especially against squads or large groups of units. Fan the Flames provides a damage boost when taking elemental damage, but as the Fire Elemental is Resistant, your opponent is unlikely to be dishing out elemental damage anyway. It can be useful to push Dragon Towers in PVP however. Molten Core seems to last forever and can be quite a nightmare for your opponent to deal with, definitely a worthy option in certain scenarios.
Firehammer
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Moultin' Metal
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Deal 50% more damage to Flying enemies. | ||
Blazing Speed
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Fury builds up to 40% higher. | ||
Heightened Rage
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Level up upon reaching full Fury. |
At 4 gold, Firehammer is an expensive drop. Heightened Rage just seems straight up weaker than the other two options as Firehammer would need to level up multiple times to gain the same amount of power that the other Talents provide. Moultin' Metal provides extra damage against flying units which might be useful if you fighting against a flying leader in PVE or find yourself facing Gargoyle decks. Blazing Speed allows Fury to build up a fair bit higher, allowing Firehammer to dish out some serious damage if left to attack for long enough.
Flamewaker
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Backdraft
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Successive attacks increase flame wave distance. Resets on movement. | ||
Engulf
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Damaging enemies Burns thems. | ||
Heat Stroke
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Damaging enemies Dazes them. |
Backdraft can turn Flamewaker into a huge value drop if you manage to get a few hits off and begin to take out the approaching reinforcements or ranged backline units. It can often justify deploying the expensive 4-drop unit whereas the other two Talents are often less impactful. Engulf adds additional damage to Flamewaker's attacks by applying Burn and Heat Stroke gives Flamewaker a semi-cc by Dazing affected units. Both actually require Flamewaker to be in a position to attack which is the greatest challenge given how squishy it is.
Footmen
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Fortification
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Gain 30% extra emtpy Health. | ||
Shield Bash
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Periodically Stun the target for 1 second. | ||
Last Stand
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Armor increases to 75% damage reduction when no other Footmen are nearby. |
Footmen are often paired with Tirion and their primary purpose is to soak damage and tank the frontline. That's why Fortification is a solid pick, giving them that extra bit of survivability they need so you have time to drop a counter to their Whelp Eggs or air deployment. Shield Bash allows footmen to apply a 1-second stun to their target and Last Stand provides a huge damage reduction when the footmen are alone. Both of these talents are useless if the opponent plays around your footmen with AoE and/or air (as you can expect them too) but they might be situationally useful in PVE.
Frostwolf Shaman
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Earth Shield
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Grant Armored to a nearby ally. Ability has 1 charge. | ||
Lightning Mastery
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Ranged attack chains to 3 nearby targets. | ||
Earthwall Totem
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Once per deploy, place a totem that partially heals a nearby tower or base. |
There are two strong choices here currently. Earth Shield which, when played, provides an ally with the Armored buff, reducing their Physical Damage taken by 50% (one charge). This Talent is usually played alongside General Drakkisath, turning the Leader into a nightmare to deal with! Also works great with other units which already have Resistant, like Fire Elemental, making them very difficult to kill. Earthwall Totem applies a small heal to your Tower or Base, which is sometimes useful in PVE, but has seen a lot of play in PVP within Turtle decks. Earthwall Totem allows you to play like a turtle, chipping your opponent's base from afar while keeping your own base topped up. Lightning Mastery is rarely seen because you will typically only be playing Frostwolf Shaman as part of the two strategies previously discussed.
Gargoyle
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Wing Buffet
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Increases move speed by 33%. | ||
Aerial Superiority
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Incoming damage from Flying minis is reduced by 50%. | ||
Obsidian Statue
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On death, summon a statue with Taunt. Lasts until destroyed. |
The goal of the Gargoyle is to reach the enemy structure and wreak havoc upon it and Wing Buffet makes that easier to achieve. Aerial Superiority is another good option that is seeing play in PVP in order to reduce the damage received from gryphons and whelps, but also because in some situations you might actually want the gryphon to move slower. Obsidian Statue is incredibly situational and most often the statue will summon under the enemy tower - we'd suggest leaving this talent as the last pick. Do note that if you want to use Gargoyle with Dryad (Nature's Swiftness) then it won't work with Wing Buffet so you'll likely want to take Aerial Superiority in that situation.
General Drakkisath
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Chromatic Scales
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Grants nearby allies the Resistant trait. | ||
Piercing Blows
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Attacks pierce through enemies in a line. | ||
Lasting Legacy
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On death, drop a banner. Nearby enemies take 50% additional Elemental damage. Lasts 10 seconds. |
General Drakkisath is a very tanky unit, with a huge health pool and the Resistant (50% less elemental damage) Trait. Chromatic Scales allows Drakkisath to pass Resistant on to all nearby allies, making them more difficult for your opponent to deal with. This is very useful for protecting your deathball against spells like Deep Breath. Piercing Blows gives Drakkisath a piercing attack and Lasting Legacy increases the elemental damage done to nearby enemies on death. This is the hardest Talent to 'pull off' but might work in some specific decks. Both Chromatic Scales and Piercing Blows can be impactful and your choice will depend on your deck. Drakkisath is often deployed with a Frostwolf Shaman which can also give him Armored (50% less physical damage) through the Earth Shield Talent, making him extremely difficult to kill.
Ghoul
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Bone Shield
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Cannibalizing grants Armored for 10 seconds. | ||
Taste for Blood
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Deal 50% additional damage to enemies who are below 50% health. | ||
Ravenous
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Cannibalizing grants Bloodlust for 10 seconds. |
Ghoul is ultimately played as a Tank so naturally Bone Shield is useful to help it soak that extra damage, and also to allow it to continue cannibalizing. Taste for Blood and Ravenous both increase the DPS of the Ghoul (in certain circumstances) but even with either of these Talents, the Ghoul is still best played as a Tank and so it's rare to see these in play. With an execute deck, there may be an argument for Taste for Blood.
Gnoll Brute
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Rabid
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Reduce deploy cost by 1 and gain the Cycle trait. | ||
Thick Hide
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Gain Armor. | ||
Pillage
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Deal Siege damage. |
At 3 gold, it can be quite hard to justify deploying a Gnoll Brute outside of specific scenarios, such as to counter squads of Skeletons or Murlocs. With Rabid reducing the gold cost of the Brute by 33% however, he can be thrown into battle with less thought in order to soak, tank or divert and keep your deck turning over. Thick Hide grants the Brute resistance to physical damage which is not to be sniffed at, especially as the Brute is most adept at dealing with squads of physical damage troops. It's still difficult to justify over Rabid in most cases though. Pillage is fairly weak as sieging towers is not something the Gnoll is well built to do with his fairly low damage melee AoE attack.
Goblin Sapper
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Rocket Powered Turbo Boots
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Move twice as fast and gain the Fast trait. | ||
Extra BOOM
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Deploy an additional +1 Goblin Sapper. | ||
Crude Gunpowder
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On death, Burn nearby enemies. |
If you've played against Goblin Sapper / Smoke Bomb decks in PVP then you will know how devilish these Sappers can be when they are whizzing towards your Towers with Rocket Powered Turbo Boots. In most cases this will be the best pick-up. You don't want the Sappers to die before they reach the tower so Crude Gunpowder is questionable and Extra BOOM is a huge DPS increase in theory if all Sappers reach the tower, but your opponent will have a lot of time to eliminate them.
Grommash Hellscream
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Savage Strikes
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Deal double damage to enemies who are below 50% health. | ||
Bladestorm
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Gain an AOE bladespin ability that damages all nearby enemies. | ||
Mirror Image
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Summon two fragile mirror images when entering combat. |
Your Talent choice here is fairly open. We've seen all three Talents used fairly often to varying degrees of success. Savage Strikes can be a pretty solid pick-up, especially when paired with Execute, which can immediately activate the ability. Bladestorm can be a strong defensive talent, and also be quite powerful in PVE. In PVP, you'll find it quite difficult to use this talent offensively as Grommash is fairly easily dealt with by Whelp Eggs, Harpies or Banshee. Mirror Image is probably the least useful talent as the two clones are very fragile and are usually dealt with very quickly.
Gryphon Rider
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Mighty Throw
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Gain +3 Range. | ||
Odyn's Fury
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Gain Fury. | ||
Air Drop
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Periodically drop a potion, leveling up the first ally to touch it. |
One of the biggest drawbacks of the Gryphon Rider is its range. Mighty Throw goes towards fixing that by increasing its range by 60%, from 5 to 8 and so this is a solid pick-up. Air Drop is seeing increasing use in PVP to buff units like Rend, Gargoyle Drakkisath or Darkspear Troll (with Big Bad Voodoo) as it can make these units incredibly difficult to deal with if they get an extra couple of levels so keep that in mind if you want to build a PVP deck around it. Odyn's Fury is rarely useful but might have some application in PVE.
Harpies
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Infectious Swipes
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Gain Poison. | ||
Trinket Collectors
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Gain the Miner trait. Cost increased by 1. | ||
Talon Dive
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Deal double damage on the 1st attack. |
This one is interesting. Infectious Swipes can alter the Harpies already deadly attack so that they can now shred through units with Armor too. It doesn't change the fact that Harpies are still incredibly squishy glass cannons though. Trinket Collectors can be a great Talent but it's situational. In PVE it depends on the encounter (how many nodes are there and how easy are they to get to?) and in PVP it depends on the meta. By increasing the gold cost of Harpies to 4 gold, you need to get some real value out of the Talent to make it worthwhile. That said, we've played the Talent to great effect in certain situations. Talon Dive can also pack a serious punch but in most cases Infectious Swipes feels stronger.
Harvest Golem
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Trojan Chickens
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On death, spawn 4 Angry Chickens. | ||
Unstable Core
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On death, Stun nearby enemies for 3 seconds. | ||
Bountiful Harvest
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On death, apply a Heal over time effect to nearby allies. |
Unstable Core, which provides Harvest Golem with a 3-second stun on death, has turned Harvest Golem into a defensive juggernaut in PVP, especially when the meta contains Turtle or slow decks. By stunning units under your base or tower, it can be very difficult for your opponent to reach your base. Trojan Chickens is also seeing a lot of play in PVP as the Golem summons the chickens on both its first death and its reincarnated death, and they can actually pack in quite a bit of extra damage! When Rocket Towers are in rotation, it's worth noting that the Angry Chickens outpace the 'landing zone' of the rocket and so they can be powerful to chip at your opponent's base. Bountiful Harvest is probably the weakest option of the three, applying only a modest heal to nearby units.
Headless Horseman
Back to TopTalent | Description |
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Night Watch
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Remain at the deploy location, attacking enemies who approach. |
Neigh Death Experience
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At 40% health, Heal to 80% health and Stun nearby enemies. Ability has one charge. |
Decapitate
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On kill, gain Bloodlust for 5 seconds. |
To be updated in due course. However, and take this with a pinch of salt as we have not yet tested these talents, it looks as though Neigh Death Experience is a safe choice for first talent, with Decapitate taking the second slot in most situations. As we've seen with other 'defensive' Talents (Grunts, Drake, etc), they are pretty lacklustre outside of very specific circumstances and so you are unlikely to be missing out if you leave Night Watch last.
Hogger
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Ham Hock
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Hogger also gains +10% max health each time he is played. | ||
Fatal Frenzy
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On death, Bloodlust nearby Beasts. | ||
Spoiled Meat
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Gain Poison. |
Hogger decks usually revolve around cycling through your deck so you can played Hogger repeatedly to make the most of his passive. For that reason, Ham Hock almost feels like a 'must have' for most Hogger decks, unless you plan to use Hogger in a very different way. Fatal Frenzy and Spoiled Meat don't offer too much in terms of competition either. In certain Beast decks you might get some value out of Fatal Frenzy and Spoiled Meat can make him a little stronger against Armored units but we can't really recommend either of these Talents over Ham Hock.
Holy Nova
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Inner Fire
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Affected allies gain Armored and Resist for 5 seconds. | ||
Amplify Magic
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Effects are doubled on all Elemental minis. | ||
Renew
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Also adds a heal over time to allies. |
A well timed Holy Nova can shock your opponent and change the outcome of a skirmish, especially when you have Inner Fire talented, providing your units with a huge defensive buff for 5 seconds. Amplify Magic can be powerful but of course it is situational and wasted if not played on Elemental Minis. It's often chosen in Drakkisath death-ball decks to give Drakkisath (which is an elemental Leader) some decent health regen. Renew gives your units some additional healing and is useful if used outside of battle. Most of the time when used in combat though, Inner Fire will come out on top.
Huntress
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Elven Might
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Deal 50% additional damage to the initial target. | ||
Shadowmeld
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Gain Stealth and Ambush. | ||
Darnassian Steel
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Glaive bounces an additional 3 times. |
The Huntress has two great talents. Elven Might increases her single target damage by 50%, reducing one of her weaknesses significantly. Shadowmeld turns her into an assassin, attacking with double damage (Ambush) when she reveals herself. Darnassian Steel definitely feels like the weakest Talent of the three, primarily because it's rare that you are in a situation where the additional bounces are needed and the opportunity cost of foregoing one of the other two options is significant.
Jaina Proudmoore
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Clearcasting
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Spells cost 1 less (but no less than 1) if played immediately after Jaina. | ||
Flurry
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Frostbolts burst on impact, Frosting enemies near the target. | ||
Blink
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Periodically teleport away from attackers. |
Jaina decks are spell decks which take advantage of her passive. Clearcasting has obvious synergy with this passive, allowing you to play spells which are both stronger and cheaper than usual upon deploying Jaina. It's a safe choice. Flurry turns Jaina's attack into a small AoE Frost attack which can be useful as a soft CC against squads or groups of troops. We don't feel as though we get as much value out of it as we do Clearcasting though, as we'd rather just drop a 3-gold Blizzard on our enemies instead which is also going to melt most of them. Blink however can be crucial in helping to keep Jaina alive for a bit longer to get another spell or two off and is great for baiting S.A.F.E. Pilot or other drops from your opponent.
Living Bomb
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Chain Reaction
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Splash damage inflicts Living Bomb. | ||
Burden Of Fate
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Affected enemies are Dazed. | ||
Blast Radius
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Also burn enemies within 10. |
Living Bomb is so rarely played right now given it's 6-gold cost. Chain Reaction ensures that it's damage goes beyond the initial blast to destroy the targeted group which likely makes it the frontrunner choice in our eyes if you do find yourself playing this card. Burden of Fate Dazes enemies and Blast Radius applies Burn to enemy troops in a large radius around the blast.
Maiev Shadowsong
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Remorseless
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Deal double damage for 2 seconds after killing an enemy. | ||
Enveloping Shadows
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Cast Smoke Bomb on deploy, Stealthing nearby allies. | ||
Shadowstep
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Periodically teleport to a ranged attacker when hit. |
A few options for you here with Maiev. Remorseless can turn Maiev into a killing machine, massively increasing her damage output if her initial fan of knives kills an enemy. You can re-stealth Maiev immediately using smoke bomb for additional effect if running this talent (usually with Sappers in the deck too). Enveloping Shadows effectively turns Maiev into a smoke bomb, as she's Unbound and can be played anywhere. This talent can be great for re-stealthing units like Prowler or Worgen to allow them to take advantage of their stealth abilities again. Both of these Talents are solid options but require quite a bit of practise to use to best effect. Shadowstep is not to be sniffed at either, but Maiev is not really tanky enough to take full advantage of this Talent and is often better played as an assassin, breaking and re-entering stealth as much as possible.
Malfurion
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Natural Salve
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Nearby Poison damage heals Malfurion. | ||
Deep Slumber
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Deploy asleep and stationary. Awaken once attacked. | ||
Germinate
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After 30 seconds, if at least one Seed of Protection remains, apply Seeds of Protection to all allied Buildings and Meeting Stones. |
Germinate is a safe choice as your first Talent. It's very powerful in PVP (making some units completely useless like Gargoyle and Earth Elemental) but also powerful in many PVE situations. It's not clear how much healing Malfurion will receive from nearby poison damage, but given his huge health pool (20% more than Baron Rivendare), Natural Salve might be somewhat effective, especially in PVE where poison Minis like Chimaera are much more commonly played. Deep Slumber is an odd Talent. Historically, defensive Talents like this have been extremely niche/situational at best and just poor at worst and I'm not really expecting this to be any different. Malfurion also has super high damage, hitting harder than a Gryphon (albeit with a much lower attack speed) and so you'll likely want him on the board for economic control.
Meat Wagon
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Filet Trebuchet
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Increase Bombard range by +2. | ||
Meat And Bones
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Every other attack summons a Skeleton instead of dealing damage. | ||
Greased Gears
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Gain Fury. |
In PVE especially, the Meat Wagon really shines and can melt down enemy structures from afar. Filet Trebuchet makes it even stronger by increasing the gap that your opponent needs to close to reach the Wagon and you will want this talent when you are tackling Onyxia. The Wagon hits like a truck so although it's nice to have some skellies on your side, it can feel kinda bad losing out on the damage. Greased Gears increases the DPS of the Wagon quite considerably if it can get the time to build up Fury but we typically find ourselves returning to Filet Trebuchet.
Molten Giant
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Bolster
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Heal when destroying a tower. | ||
Blood Of The Mountain
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On death, explode, damaging nearby enemies. | ||
Threatening Presence
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Gain Taunt. |
The Molten Giant is another Mini which is not seeing much play right now given how easily it is countered and how expensive it is at 6-gold. Its Talents don't help too much either. Bolster gives the Molten Giant some additional sustenance to continue pushing after destroying a Tower but that's a fairly high bar to reach in order to gain the benefit so you won't be seeing it trigger often. Blood of the Mountain is likely to be useful in more scenarios, with the Molten Giant exploding upon death. Threatening Presence will rarely be of use since you will be deploying the Mountain Giant in such a way that it should be taunting enemy troops anyway.
Moonkin
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Vengeance
|
Taking damage increases casting speed by 50% for 5 secs. | ||
Moonglow
|
Spells gain 2 levels if played immediately after Moonkin. | ||
Typhoon
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Knockback nearby enemies on deploy. |
Moonkin is currently a very poor Mini and none of the Talents make much of a difference to that. Typhoon is likely the worst Talent for Moonkin, though players may find some niche use cases. Moonkin's 4-gold cost means that playing the Mini for Moonglow results in a very expensive set-up, especially when compared to the much cheaper, and more powerful, set-up with Eclipse. Despite this, Moonkin is still a body on the board and so Moonglow is probably the best of a bad bunch. Vengeance can be somewhat useful in PVE but Moonkin is too easily dealt with in PVP for this Talent to have much impact.
Mountaineer
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Mend Pets
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Heal up to 3 additional nearby Beasts when healing the Bear. | ||
Intimidation
|
Bear gains Taunt. | ||
Frenzied Spirit
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When the Bear or Mountaineer die, the other gains Bloodlust. |
The Mountaineer is only really seeing play at the moment in Beast decks with Mend Pets talented, for example in Hogger decks. Despite this, it's still quite difficult to pull off as the Mountaineer is so squishy that it can be easily taken out by your opponent. For the same reason, Frenzied Spirit is of limited usefulness in PVP however could be worth considering for PVE where you can guarantee the bear will die first, leaving the Mountaineer dealing quite a bit of damage with Bloodlust. Intimidation can be useful to try and protect your Mountaineer from Unbound drops but since a single S.A.F.E. Pilot explosion will eliminate him anyway, you might not get much value from it.
Murloc Tidehunters
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Safety Bubble
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Deploy with a bubble that blocks the first attack. | ||
Morelocs
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Deploy with +1 additional Murloc. | ||
Careful Aim
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Gain +2 range. |
Murloc Tidehunters benefit from a set of extremely useful Talents. Careful Aim increases the range of Murlocs to 8.5, allowing them to outrange Rend, Drake and Bat Rider, in addition to trading well with Gryphons. Safety Bubble is an almost-always-useful Talent that gives your Tidehunters extra survivability, allowing them to get off an extra attack or two which can allow them to make some huge value trades at 2 gold. Morelocs effectively increases the power of the Mini by 50% and can be very useful in situations where your opponent doesn't have a good way of dealing with squads or groups of units, such as in many PVE encounters. Choose dependent upon your requirements but as a rule of thumb we'd say if you are choosing for PVP, take Safety Bubble. Being able to survive Deep Breath and stick to the board is invaluable.
Necromancer
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Jeweled Skulls
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Summon Skeletal Mages instead of Skeletons. | ||
Breath of the Dying
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On death, summon 5 Skeletons. | ||
Cult of the Damned
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On kill, summon a Skeleton. |
Skeletal Mages are simply better than Skeletons. Their ranged attack applies Frost which slows down enemy units and against Dragon Towers (in PVP rotation) they take very little damage. That's why Jeweled Skulls is such a solid choice of Talent here. Cult of the Damned means more skellies, if you can get some kills, but those skellies are very weak in the frontline. Breath of the Dying is a similar story, yes you get more skeletons - but ultimately they are unlikely to achieve much.
Ogre Mage
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Avarice
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Gain Bloodlust when Bloodlusting an ally. | ||
Frostfire Bolt
|
Gain Frost. | ||
Ignite
|
Burn enemy targets. |
Ogre Mage already deals a tonne of AoE damage but Avarice turns the Ogre into a difficult unit to deal with for your opponent. Frostfire Bolt is also very useful as Frost slows down your enemy's attack and movement speed, importantly stopping those melee units from getting close enough to the Ogre to deal with them. Ignite is probably the least useful of the Talents since the damage output from Avarice is higher in most cases if the utility of Frostfire Bolt is not needed.
Old Murk-Eye
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Marathon Of The Murlocs
|
March of the Murlocs lasts an additional 5 seconds longer after deploying. | ||
Electric Eels
|
Attacks briefly Stun enemies. | ||
Tip of the Spear
|
Tidehunters spawn at Old Murk Eye's location instead. |
It takes around 3 seconds to generate 1 gold when you are in battle in Warcraft Rumble. That means that Marathon Of The Murlocs allows you to spend an additional 1.66 gold during the March of the Murlocs window. If you wait until you are part-way through generating your next gold before deploying Old Murk Eye, then you will have an extra 2 gold to spend during the window which will allow you to summon two additional Murloc Tidehunters, assuming you can keep Old Murk-Eye alive! We think that's pretty good since you'd normally pay 2 gold for those Tidehunters. You also get the benefit of a wider spending window if you are able to capture gold chests or nodes during that period. Electric Eels is ok but you aren't likely to get too many hits off with Old Murk-Eye since he is so squishy. Tip Of The Spear can actually end up being a hinderance since it makes it much easier for opponents to nuke down your entire Murloc horde by dropping a Blizzard or precision S.A.F.E. Pilot down.
Onu
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Barkskin
|
Minis deployed within Safe Arbor gain Armor for 8 seconds. | ||
Petrify
|
Petrify on death, keeping Safe Arbor active for 8 seconds. | ||
From the Trees!
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Minis deployed within Safe Arbor deal double damage on their first attack. |
Please note that this Mini is new to the game and the following information is an early opinion only. Proceed with caution before selecting your Talents. This information will be updated in due course.
From the Trees appears to be the strongest talent and a pretty safe first choice for Onu. Huntress, Pyromancer and Sappers are examples of Minis which excel alongside this Talent. Both of the other Talents are pretty bad but Petrify is likely to provide more consistent value than Barkskin which provides a short armour buff.
Orgrim Doomhammer
Back to TopTalent | Description |
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Deathless Rage
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During the Mak'gora, refuse to die, gaining Cheat Death and Bloodlust for 3.5 seconds instead. |
Conqueror's Diplomacy
|
After winning the Mak'gora, the opponent uses the last of their strength to heal to full and join Doomhammer's side before bleeding out over 10 seconds. |
Rally the Clan
|
Grant Bloodlust to all allies on the board for 10 seconds upon winning the Mak'gora. |
Plague Farmer
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Splashing Pumpkins
|
Increase Range by +1 and double the Splash area. | ||
Parting Gift
|
On death, summon a pumpkin. When touched, it Poisons nearby enemies. | ||
Virulence
|
On kill, Poison enemies near the target. |
Splashing Pumpkins is by far the best pick up for Plague Farmer. Even with it, the Mini is not amazing, but it is able to dish out some serious AoE damage to large groups. Virulence is redundant because Splashing Pumpkins ensures that all units near the target are poisoned anyway and Parting Gift only inflicts a minor poison DoT on the affected target(s).
Polymorph
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Golden Fleece
|
One sheep becomes golden. Killing it grants +1 gold. | ||
Exploding Sheep
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Killing a sheep damages nearby enemies. | ||
Stable Transfiguration
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Lasts twice as long, but sheep regenerate health very quickly. |
This spell is seeing quite a bit of use lately and that's primarily because of the Golden Fleece Talent. This Talent turns Polymorph into a long (6 second) hard AoE cc for 2 gold effectively, assuming you kill the golden sheep. Exploding Sheep can be powerful too but it's situational and mostly useless when you are using it on one or two units. Stable Transfiguration is not great - we don't want to give our opponent time to reinforce their Minis as they heal back up.
Prowler
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Pack Leader
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Grants nearby Beast allies 30% additional damage. | ||
On The Prowl
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Gain Stealth, and stun the target when attacking from Stealth. | ||
Predatory Instincts
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Deal double damage to enemies who are at more than 75% health. |
Unless you are running a Beast deck specifically, either On the Prowl or Predatory Instincts are usually going to be safe Talent choices for you here. Predatory Instincts is probably the most popular talent choice in PVP as it allows the Prowler to dish out huge amounts of damage on it's first couple of attacks, however On the Prowl is also very powerful since the stun will almost always be useful and the stealth can allow the Prowler to get up close before being targeted. Naturally, if you are running a Beast deck then you might consider Pack Leader for a 30% flat damage increase for nearby Beast allies but this is going to more useful in PVE than PVP.
Pyromancer
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Conflagrate
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Splash area is doubled. | ||
Pyroblast
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Deal triple damage on the first attack. | ||
Blaze of Glory
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Damage and Burn nearby enemies on death. |
Pyromancer has two great Talents for you to choose from. Pyroblast is going to incinerate the first Mini you attack and Conflagrate is going to increase the AoE of your attack. Your choice here will really come down to how you want to use Pyromancer in your deck. We would recommend avoiding Blaze of Glory as Pyromancer is a ranged unit so unless you drop her straight on top of the opponents troops defensively, it's likely to be wasted.
Quilboar
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Tunnel Vision
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Deploy much more quickly. | ||
Bristleback
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Deal a small amount of damage to Melee attackers. | ||
Bramble Burst
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Inflict Poison on nearby enemies when emerging. |
This is an interesting one! Outside of being everyone's favourite tank, Quilboar is also great for capturing gold chests, denying enemy miners and chipping (at towers or bases). Tunnel Vision allows Quilboar to perform all of these tasks more efficiently by halving the deployment speed from 4 seconds to 2 seconds. I have played countless games in PVP where the ~2 seconds saved by the talent has allowed me to stop a side tower from fully repairing. However, Bristleback is also seeing a lot of play in PVP as it can allow the Quilboar to better trade with other Quilboars, Dark Iron Miners and Skeletons. The primary use for Quilboar in both PVP and PVE is to act as an unbound tank (for the base, towers, bosses and other Minis), allowing you to set up powerful plays while he soaks up the damage and therefore both of these talents are viable and you won't go wrong picking either of them as your first. Note that when Dragon Towers are in rotation in PVP, you will likely want to take Bristleback as the increased deploy time can actually allow him to soak a full blast from the tower at max range, taking minimal damage. Bramble Burst helps Quilboar deal a bit of extra AoE damage and is great at popping Murloc Safety Bubbles, so has started seeing a lot more play in PVP recently.
Ragnaros
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Concussive Blast
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Blast Wave leaves enemies stunned for 2 seconds. | ||
Radiant Flames
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Buildings you control periodically damage nearby enemies. | ||
Son of Flame
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At 50% health, summon two Fire Elementals that last 15 seconds. |
Please note that this Mini is new to the game and the following information is an early opinion only. Proceed with caution before selecting your Talents. This information will be updated in due course.
Generally Ragnaros has been a pretty low impact Leader since being released alongside Molten Core. He saw a short flurry of action as players tried him out but, at least in PVP, he isn't seeing much play anymore. Radiant Flames has certainly been the most popular Talent choice for Ragnaros given that the period AoE damage affects all buildings you control, not just the building that Ragnaros is... inhabiting? It' a decent talent that can make it more difficult for opponents to push. Concussive Blast is pretty bad. The spell itself already makes it more difficult to justify playing Ragnaros (you don't want that terrible spell clogging up your hand) and the 2-second stun does little to improve it. Son of Flame I'm still not sure about to be honest. Will update on this talent when I get more of a chance to test it out and see how it compares to Radiant Flames. It feels more situational but there might be certain short PVE maps or some combination of modifiers in PVP that make it more viable.
Raptors
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Strength In Numbers
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Deal 10% more damage for each other Raptor nearby. | ||
Fast Food
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On kill, heal a small amount of damage. | ||
Motivation
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Gain Bloodlust while a chest or gold vein is nearby. |
None of these Talents are amazing really but Strength in Numbers can increase Raptors DPS by a fairly considerable amount. Raptors are not tanks and don't have a huge health pool so Fast Food is already lacklustre and on top of that you have to secure kills to benefit at all. Motivation is very situational, sometimes you will have the buff, sometimes you won't.
Rend Blackhand
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Scale and Steel
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Gain Resistant while flying and Armored while dismounted. | ||
Flaming Soul
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Cast Living Bomb upon dismounting, damaging nearby enemies. | ||
Legionnaire
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Dismount when first taking damage. The Drake continues fighting. |
You want to keep Rend Blackhand on the board for as long as you can to benefit from his passive which reduces the cost of flying units by 1. Scale and Steel is a safe first choice of Talent that helps you achieve that by gaining Resistant while flying and Armored while dismounted. The Resistant Trait for Gyth (drake) is a bonus but the real value is in the Armored Trait for Rend as he's fairly tanky and this helps him take down units like Huntress with ease upon dismounting. It also allows him to soak a lot of damage from Towers (not Dragon Towers). Flaming Soul looks good in theory and it can be, especially during the Gold Rush Modifier and in PVE encounters, but it can also be quite easy for your opponent to dismount Rend from afar, making this Talent useless at times. Consider including a Faerie Dragon in your deck to provide your Rend with Resist if you are going to run this Talent. It will stop Rend from being dismounted by a single Deep Breath in PVP. We'd recommend taking Flaming Soul as your second Talent. One of the advantages of Rend is that he's difficult to deal with since your opponent needs to deal with two very different minions back-to-back. Legionnaire can make things much easier for your opponent by allowing them to deal with both Minis (Gyth and Rend) at the same time, for example with an ability like Blizzard. It's therefore rather situational and unlikely in most cases to be better than your other options.
S.A.F.E. Pilot
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Gnomish Cloaking Device
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Deploy from the explosion with Stealth and Ambush. | ||
Comin' In Hot!
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Deploy twice as fast and Burn nearby enemies. | ||
Gnomish Muttonizer
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Polymorph the first blaster target. |
Gnomish Cloaking Device and Comin' In Hot! here remain powerful talents and despite the nerf, S.A.F.E. Pilot still remains a very powerful Mini. Although she might not be in every deck now, we still expect her to see her feature often. Her nerf will be felt quite hard in PVE for players who are using Unbound damage to clear stages though. Comin' In Hot! crash damage has been reduced by 33%, but it's still effective in clearing Squads such as Skeletons, or for dealing with squishy units like Gryphon Rider. At same level, both will survive the initial crash and die to a couple of ticks of burn damage now however. Gnomish Cloaking Device has lost its Ambush effect and there will no longer be a damage multiplier when attacking from stealth. Despite this, it's still a powerful Talent choice in PVP, allowing you to time the moment when your Pilot will become targetable by the enemy and giving you time to set up a distraction (like Quilboar) if required. Gnomish Muttonizer remains the weakest choice, especially in PVP where the Pilot' initial crash no longer kills a lot of units.
Skeleton Party
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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5-Man
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Summons a Skeleton Tank, Rogue, Priest, and 2 Mages. | ||
Corpse Run
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Gain +1 level for each deploy after the first. (Maximum +3 levels) | ||
Ritual of Rime
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Summon 5 Skeleton Mages who guard the deploy location. |
5-Man turns your Skeleton Party into a full on WoW dungeon group with a tank, healer and three DPS to boot. This is generally the preferred talent as this combination is much powerful than the standard combination that is deployed. Corpse Run can be powerful in rank-locked PVP, especially at the lower levels but it's usefulness is limited since the original skeletons are not very powerful. Ritual of Rime is the weakest talent in our opinion, we don't want to have our skellies locked in a defensive position - it's too situational.
Skeletons
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Questing Buddies
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One Skeleton gains Armor, one gains Resist, and one gains Stealth. | ||
Exhume
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If deployed near a Tower or Meeting Stone, deploy +2 additional Skeletons. | ||
Cackle
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Gain Taunt. |
Skeletons are one of my favourite Minis. With Exhume talented, for 2-gold, you are getting five deadly skeletons that can be spawned either defensively under your own tower or base, or offensive under your opponent's towers. The five skelly summon on top of a Tower can be enough to take it solo (in PVE), or with a tank (like Quilboar) in PVP. It's also a useful Talent for any non-AoE PVE boss encounter to soak a lot of hits. Questing Buddies is not a bad choice either as this just makes the Skeletons that bit harder for your opponent to deal with. Cackle doesn't appear to make a tonne of sense since you don't really want these low hp units tanking, and if you do then you can simply deploy them as such.
Smoke Bomb
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Through The Shadows
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Affected minis move 50% faster until unstealthed. | ||
Band Of Thieves
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Grant +2 levels to Cycle minis within. | ||
Strangers in the Night
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Effects apply to enemies as well. |
Smoke bomb has two main uses currently, the first is to stealth those pesky Sappers in order to allow them to reach their target structures and the second is to re-stealth units to allow them to activate their stealth abilities gain like Prowler (talented) or Maiev. Both of these use cases benefit from Through the Shadows which gives those Minis the extra speed they need to land their attacks. Band of Thieves could be great for Sappers, allowing them to dish out some additional damage, but the reality is that if the Sappers never reach the tower because they are too slow - then they are useless anyway. Strangers in the Night is generally poor or very situational. It occasionally gets some use in PVP in Hogger decks to allow Hogger to bypass threats like Harpies or distractions like Quilboar.
Sneed
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Mine Is Money, Friend!
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Gain the Miner trait. | ||
Lead With Greed
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Gain an additional +2 Gold when Sneed triggers Sneed Before Greed. | ||
Land Grab
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Gain a level whenever Sneed Before Greed triggers. |
If you are running Sneed in your deck, then it's likely your deck is built around his passive (Sneed Before Greed) with at least a few siege units included. Lead With Greed allows you to increase the value you get from this passive by 100%, massively improving it and allowing for huge swings in your favour when you are able to activate it. Mine Is Money, Friend! is a useful Talent in that it allows you to be a bit more versatile with Sneed and where/how you play with him, but he's a fairly slow siege unit and so doesn't make the best miner. There might be an argument for this talent on PVE encounters but in most cases you are likely to get greater value from Lead With Greed. Finally, Land Grab is really just a worse version of Lead With Greed in our opinion. We'd much rather have 2 gold than an extra level on Sneed.
Spiderlings
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Frostbite
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Gain Frost. | ||
Bloated Carapace
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Explode on death, Poisoning nearby enemies. | ||
Envenom
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Deal twice as much Poison damage. |
Spiderlings are another unit that is not currently seeing a tonne of play, mostly because for there are just better two-gold drops out there. Envenom can make their poison attack deadly however, especially if they are able to continue gnashing away at a target, building up stacks of poison. Frostbite can give them some soft CC in the form of Frost. Bloated Carapace is the least useful since Spiderlings are squishy enough to be dispatched at distance.
Stonehoof Tauren
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Momentum
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After connecting a charge, immediately charge a second time if possible. | ||
Pummel
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After connecting a charge, Stun the target for 3 seconds. | ||
Provoke
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After connecting a charge, Taunt nearby enemies. |
Stonehoof Tauren is usually chosen for its ability to charge into those pesky backline troops like Huntress and Darkspear Troll. That's why we love Momentum which allows the Tauren to chain it's Charge beyond the initial (often frontline) unit. Pummel can also be quite strong and can allow Stonehoof to make some favourable 1v1 trades but generally feels weaker than Momentum in most cases. Your Tauren will usually be drawing the attention and aggro from your opponents as it charges in so Provoke seems less useful.
Sylvanas Windrunner
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Queen's Reach
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Black Arrow travels 20% farther. | ||
Banshee's Wail
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Scream on Death, Stunning nearby enemies for 3 seconds. | ||
Forsaken Fury
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Windrunner Aura also grants Fury to Horde and Undead Allies. |
With her rework when she became a split Leader, Sylvanas gained Black Arrow as a passive ability and had her Talents reworked a bit. Banshee's Wail is still the same, but she gained a new talent, Queen's Reach which allows her Black Arrow to travel farther. Forsaken Fury was also changed, with all Horde and Undead Minis receiving 'Fury', even when Sylvanas is not on the field. Queen's Reach is stronger than it might first appear. With this Talent, Sylvanas becomes an artillery cannon and can now completely outrange Guard Towers, sitting deep in the back line. Forsaken Fury is also very powerful. Outside of the Gargoyle + Dryad cheese, Ghoul, Skeletons and Dire Batlings are other particularly powerful beneficiaries of Fury. In PVE you might also see this having a big impact for Darkspear Troll, Bat Rider, Meat Wagon and Stonehoof Tauren. We'll see how it pans out in PVP but this is certainly going to be a safe choice for PVE. Banshee's Wail can be situationally powerful if the stun allows the banshee (produced on death) to possess a unit before it would have otherwise died, but this is not often and both of the other Talents are powerful so we believe this is a clear 3rd choice.
Tirion Fordring
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Divine Shield
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Gain a magical shield at 30% health, absorbing all damage for 5 seconds. | ||
By The Light
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Heal the primary target for twice as much. | ||
Consecrate
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Regularly consecrate the ground, damaging enemies within. |
Tirion can be a real problem for your opponent if played with a group of troops, like Footmen, and so you can be sure that they will try to take him down quickly. That's why Divine Shield is often picked and why we'd also recommend it in most situations. The extra 5 seconds can make a big difference in keeping your troops in the fight and can often be enough to deal with whatever counter your opponent has thrown at you. By The Light can be useful if you are playing Tirion with tanky units or pairs of units like Abomination, Core Hounds, Fire Elemental or Warsong Grunts but these decks appear to less effective at the time of writing. Consecrate allows you to deal some AoE damage with Tirion but that's not really why you play the Leader so we'd probably suggest going with Divine Shield instead.
Treant
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Composting
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On death, Heal nearby minis. | ||
Propagation
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Summon two extra Treants at your base for every 3 Gold spent on deploy. | ||
Uproot
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On death, Root the target for 3 seconds. |
This squishy (yet Armored) Mini doesn't appear to have any stand-out Talents that are able to propel it into the limelight. The core issue is that given their low HP, Treants are extremely easy to dispose of.
Propagation is fairly weak. Five Treants for 3g is fine, mostly for base or tower defence, but in most cases (and especially in PVP) I'd rather just have Defias Bandits for 1g that can also boost my economy with Pick Lock. Many bosses have access to some AoE spells and/or Minis with AoE damage and it becomes even harder to make a case for Treants when comparing it to other Minis like Murloc Tidehunters, Dire Batlings or even Harpies for the minimum cost you'd be paying to trigger Propagation. Composting and Uproot are expected to be equally bad in PVP as they are far too situational. Most of the time your Treants will be dispatched from afar or in such a way that their Talents provide no benefit at all. In PVE Composting could have had some utility since you can somewhat consistently be able to ensure that your opponent kills the Treants one by one but the healing from Composting appears to be very low.
Vultures
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Feeding Frenzy
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The flock gains Bloodlust for 5 seconds when spawning a new Vulture. | ||
Migration
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All additional Vultures spawn at your base. | ||
Tendon Rip
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Attacks Daze enemies for 3 seconds. |
You can really take your pick with Vultures depending on how you plan to use them, however Migration can make the passive Carrion ability (which spawns additional Vultures upon kills) a bit more useful since it spreads your Vultures out making them less susceptible to AoE attacks. Tendon Rip provides a soft CC in the form of Daze and Feeding Frenzy gives your entire 'flock' of Vultures a short Bloodlust upon kills. Vultures have half the damage of Harpies but in the rare situations where your opponent has nothing to deal with them, Bloodlust could make them quite deadly.
Warsong Grunts
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Blood Pact
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When a Grunt dies, the other gain Bloodlust. | ||
Command
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Nearby Beast allies deal 30% additional damage. | ||
Guard Duty
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Remain at deploy location until entering combat. |
Warsong Grunts can dish out quite a bit of damage if allowed to attack for a while, thanks to Fury. Bloodlust allows them to further increase their damage output by providing additional movement and attack speed to any surviving Grunts once one has been killed. Command is very similar to Prowler's Pack Leader Talent, increasing the damage of nearby Beasts. Naturally this Talent will only make sense if you are running Grunts in a Beast deck. Guard Duty is a situational Talent that you'd only pick up if you had a specific strategy for its use in mind, most likely for PVE.
Warsong Raider
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Razing Focus
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Become a Siege unit, ignoring enemy Minis. | ||
Saboteur
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Damaging a tower reduces its damage dealt by 50% for 3 seconds. | ||
Sunder Armor
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Damaging an Armored enemy removes their Armor. |
Warsong Raider doesn't deal a lot of damage and can be quite easy to counter if played as a melee tank, so Razing Focus can be a good pick up, turning the quick troop into a formidable Siege unit. Saboteur can also be situationally powerful, especially against certain towers (like Dragon Towers) which have an AoE attack. The Raider can reduce the damage output of these Towers massively if it's able to get there and land a few blows. Sunder Armor is not to be ignored either, though you are likely to find less opportunities to use this Talent to effect outside of specific PVP match-ups or PVE encounters.
Whelp Eggs
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Flame Burst
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Damage nearby enemies when hatching. | ||
Rookery
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When one egg hatches, the others hatch immediately. | ||
Chromatic Plating
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Eggs gain Taunt. |
Despite being hit with the nerf hammer a while back, Flame Burst is still your best choice in almost any scenario. Rookery can be strong against both single target ranged units and allow you to start getting those attacks in against melee units faster but it's worse than Flame Burst for both purposes, as well as making it much easier for your opponent to clear your hatched Whelps. In our opinion, Chromatic Plating is the Talent you will get the least consistent value from.
Witch Doctor
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Alchemist
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Periodically drop a potion, granting Bloodlust to the first ally who touches it. | ||
Amplify Curse
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Enemies killed by the Curse explosion also explode. | ||
Spirit Ward
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On kill, grant a shield to nearby allies, absorbing the next hit against them. |
Witch Doctor has turned out to be a solid addition to the game, finding play in many decks due to his low gold cost, ability to target air and outsized impact when Spirit Ward lands. Spirit Ward is by far the strongest talent we've seen for Witch Doctor in PVP so far. By deploying the Doctor against soft units like Gryphon, or squads such as Skeletons or Harpies, you can fairly consistently proc Spirit Ward, providing all nearby allies with a shield that protects the next damage instance. Amplify Curse is less useful in PVP as it's really only useful against swarms of enemy units, with the Witch Doctor's passive explosive curse usually being powerful enough to eliminate squads. This talent may be more useful in PVE however, especially in encounters where you have to deal with large waves of enemies. Alchemist hasn't really taken off. Although it's not terrible, it's just not as powerful as Spirit Ward in most situations.
Worgen
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Premeditation
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Increase Ambush damage by 50%. | ||
Lone Wolf
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On deploy, grant +1 gold if no allies are nearby. | ||
Frenzy
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On kill, gain Bloodlust for 10 seconds. |
This Unbound assassin excels at dispatching of backline units or other high-value targets, which is why Premeditation is often useful. Lone Wolf can be a solid choice if you plan to use the Worgen to capture Gold Chests or deny enemy Miners since you can deploy him on his own in both cases. Frenzy currently feels much worse than Premeditation as you will often only get that one important kill off before your opponent is able to easily deal with Worgen.
Ysera
Back to TopTalent | PVP | PVE | Description |
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Recurring Dream
|
Ysera Minis are twice as likely to show up in hand. | ||
Corrupted Dream
|
Emerald Whelps and Emerald Drake apply twice as much poison. | ||
Shared Dream
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Hibernate applies to all enemies on the board. |
It's early days but Ysera shows a lot of potential. As always, proceed with caution when considering Talents for new Minis, however at this stage it is fairly safe to go ahead and take Recurring Dream as your first Talent here. Ysera's spells are strong, therefore being able to deploy them twice as often is... well... strong. Both Shared Dream and Corrupted Dream are situationally useful, especially in PVE, and I don't think you can really go wrong with whichever one you choose for your second Talent since most of the time you will be using Recurring Dream anyway, but I would probably suggest Corrupted Dream if you are picking for PVE and Shared Dream if you are picking for PVP.