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Heroes8 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

A first look at the possible post-Gamescom Valla builds



The source of this is Grubby's stream, and the changes have been summarized by this reddit thread.

General Changes

Valla's auto attack damage was significantly reduced, especially when she does not have hatred stacks built up.  Hatred stacks now increase auto attack damage by 8% per stack instead of 3%.

Searing Arrows (Level 7) has been removed.

Blood for Blood (Level 16) has been removed.

Vault's mana cost has been reduced to 50 from 75, and using Vault now increases the damage of Valla's next auto attack by 5% per hatred stack.

Rain of Vengeance has been significantly buffed.  It now has 2 charges, each one costing 50 mana and summoning one wave of shadow beasts.

Talent Builds

Valla's always had 3 talent builds: Hungering Arrow (Q) build, Multi-shot (W) build, and Auto attack.  That hasn't changed with the new rework.  What has changed is that Blizzard has reworked Valla with this very fact in mind, and has done a fantastic job in making sure that on every talent tier, there is a talent that improves the player's chosen talent build with the exception of level 16 for the Hungering Arrow (Q) build.

What's even more remarkable is that the correct talent choice on each talent tier entirely depends on the player's build - there is no auto pick talent that isn't an ultimate choice.  And while many heroes not only suffer from auto pick talents, but also garbage talents that are never picked, Valla now only has 2 such talents: Seething Hatred at Level 16 (most Valla players won't have a problem maintaining their Hatred stacks) and Vengeance, which is the Strafe ult upgrade (yes, they buffed it, but it is still useless).  This makes Valla the envy of all the other heroes in the game as far as talent diversity goes.  The only negative talent diversity effect of this latest rework will be the fact that the Rain of Vengeance buff makes this ult a near auto pick over Strafe. 

Hungering Arrow (Q Build)

Level 1: Cost Effective Materials (now increases range by 25% in addition to the current effects)

Level 4: Puncturing Arrow (now a quest talent that increases Q damage by 5 when it hits a hero, up to 100.  When the quest is complete, it grants 50 more bonus damage as well as the extra bounce that this talent provides on live).

Level 7: Siphon Arrow (Moved from level 1 to level 7, it had its' lifesteal buffed to 75% damage from 50%)

Level 10: Rain of Vengeance (ult changes discussed above)

Level 13: Repeating Arrow (no change but moved from 7 to 13)

Level 16: Since no talent on this tier really helps this build, player has a choice between Frost Shot (now increases Multi-shot range by 20% but had its slow reduced to 25%) or Manticore (now Valla's version of Giant Killer - every 3rd auto attack deals 5% of the target's maximum health as damage)

Level 20: Storm of Vengeance (New effect: Basic attacks reduce the ult's cooldown by 5 seconds.  OMG!)

Bottomline

The Hungering arrow build will be an early game beast, as it provides safe poke while allowing Valla to duel fairly well.  Its main weakness will be late game falloff, as the level 16 tier is weak for this talent build and the damage is good but not exceptional.

Multishot (W Build)

Level 1: Hot Pursuit (moved to level 1 from level 7 and now returns 4 mana/second while at max hatred)

Level 4: Punishment (Multi-shot deals 5% more damage per hatred stack)

Level 7: Spell Barrier (Permanently reduces ability damage taken by 20% and can be activated to reduce ability damage by a further 3% per hatred stack for 5 seconds, but this consumes the hatred stacks)

Level 10: Rain of Vengeance (ult changes discussed earlier)

Level 13: Arsenal (a level 4 talent moved up to level 13, but now reduces Multi-shot's cooldown by 3 seconds for every hero hit by the grenades)

Level 16: Frost Shot (moved from level 13, but now has the Composite Arrows effect baked into it at the cost of the slow being nerfed from 40% to 25%)

Level 20: Lightweight Bolts (40% auto attack range increase)

Bottomline

This build will be slightly weaker in the early game (weaker wave clear and poke due to the removement of range increase at early levels) but there is now an absolutely HUGE power spike at level 13.  Overall this build is insanely safe due to high movement speed and less squishyness courtesy of Spell barrier), and once the power spike is reached Valla can literally spam high damage Multi-shots with almost no cooldown.  Lightweight Bolts is the pick at 20 since it makes maintaining Valla's hatred stacks easy, a critical thing due to the Punishment talent.

Auto Attack Build

Level 1: Caltrops (3 caltrops dropped when vaulting - slow has been reduced to 25% for 1 second.  The real key is that this talent also has a quest component: when Valla has spent 180 seconds at full hatred, Vault's cooldown is permanently reduced by 5 seconds)

Level 4: Improved Hatred (10% passive auto attack speed with a quest component that increases attack damage by 2% per hatred stack after 100 basic attacks have been made against heroes)

Level 7: Tempered by Discipline (25% lifesteal on auto attacks when at full hatred)

Level 10: Rain of Vengeance (ult changes discussed earlier)

Level 13: Lethal Shot (Vault bonus damage per hatred stack increased from 5% to 10%.  If Valla's next auto attack kills its target, the mana cost and cooldown of Vault is returned)

Level 16: Manticore (now Valla's version of Giant Killer - every 3rd basic attack deals 5% of target's maximum health as damage)

Level 20: Rancor (Moved from Level 1 to Level 20. Every stack of hatred grants 2% increased attack speed, with a new 30% bonus provided at full hatred)

Bottomline: 

Like the Multi-shot build, this build is slightly weaker in the early game (reduced damage), but has massive power spikes at level 13 and level 16. Unlike before, offensive use of Vault is a critical part of effective play with this talent build.  This means that somewhat aggressive, risky positioning and play is required to get the most out of this build, which can be punished by using cc on her and then focusing her down. The high mobility from lower Vault cooldowns and life steal will help with this somewhat, but this build is still extremely dangerous to use if positioning is a weakspot for the Valla player, or if the other team is good at focus fire/lock down. 

Level 20 is also a big dilemma: The new Rancor provides insane amount of damage, but that only matters if Valla can stay alive, which Lightweight Bolts will help with.  With respect to tanks, Valla is great against them once she hits 16 and becomes god against them at level 20 with Rancor, but that is a long time to wait to deal % damage, and Tychus may be a better pick against them for that reason.

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