Cleanse is an incredibly powerful ability, but can be equally difficult to utilize correctly. We aim to clear up any misconceptions regarding this particular talent pick, and shed some light on its myriad uses in the Nexus.
To begin, let's look at the talent's description (it's identical in Uther's and Brightwing's kit, available to both at level 7):
-Cleanse-
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Activate to remove all stuns, roots, silences, and slows from the target and prevents their reapplication for 1 second.
Even if you have limited experience with the MOBA genre, the utility of this talent is immediately evident. Once we reach the mid-game stage and later, often all it takes is one well-thrown stun or immobilizing ability to secure a kill, whether that's for or against your team.
Using cleanse to free your absent minded DPS, or to save your tank from getting locked down and squashed before the team is ready to engage, can allow your allies a second chance at an even fight.
The benefits of Cleanse are twofold. It's easy to see its effectiveness when used reactively (as outlined in the examples above). Especially as we enter the late game, when heroes like Brightwing and Jaina pick up talents (Critterize and Northern Exposure) that allow them to combine dangerous amounts of damage with their crowd control abilities.
But also, thanks to its 1-second duration, Cleanse has some incredibly powerful proactive applications.
Cleanse applies the 'Unstoppable' buff to its target - meaning that, for its duration, the friendly hero is immune to ALL forms of disruption and crowd control.
As we delve into these uses, it's important to note that the talent's description (removes stuns, roots, silences and slows) is not entirely complete. Cleanse applies the 'Unstoppable' buff to its target - meaning that, for its duration, the friendly hero is immune to ALL forms of disruption and crowd control.
This includes knockback abilities (Tychus' Frag Grenade, Raynor's Penetrating Round, Chen's Wandering Keg), unconventional stuns (Zeratul's Void Prison, Zagara's Devouring Maw, Stitches' Gorge), polymorphs (Brightwing and the Garden Terror), and pulls (Kerrigan's Primal Grasp, Stitches' Hook). Meaning, if you are sufficiently aware and fast enough on the keyboard, you can negate some potentially nasty plays from the enemy team. (Note: if you use Cleanse to free a teammate from a persistent CC effect, like Void Prison or E.T.C's Mosh Pit, unless they move out of the AOE, they will be susceptible to it again after the 1-second duration is over.)
Reactive:
- Most obviously: to remove a stun, slow, or root that would otherwise mean the death of you or one of your teammates
- Thanks to its short 30-second cooldown, often you can afford to clean the root effect from a Boss or Grave Golem off of a teammate - preventing a good chunk of damage,
- To remove a Critterized Polymorph, negating the bonus 25% damage that Brightwing applies after level 16
- To clean the Chilled effect off of a friendly, negating Jaina's critical damage bonus and potentially denying Cone of Cold's 1-second root effect
Proactive:
- To aid a friendly or yourself - allowing for an un-interruptable sprint+divine storm combo, or allowing a friendly ETC to cross the battlefield quickly and interrupt an enemy channeled ability
- With excellent timing, saving a channeling friendly from an incoming interrupt (keeping Nazeebo's ravenous spirit going as Muradin leaps at him and throws a storm bolt)
- Again with excellent timing and awareness, preventing Stitches from landing a devastating hook
Keep an eye out for the next Talent Spotlight! Who knows what unassuming, but totally powerful talent will be featured next!
Have a suggestion on a talent you want to see featured? Let us know in the comments section or @gosugamersHotS!
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