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The Fury of Rehgar

by - 10 years ago

Heroes of the Storm’s most recent addition to the hero pool is a big, mean-spirited orc shaman. Beyond that, I know basically nothing. Apparently, he’s involved with slave pits and gambling, or something. He represents the first character that I’ve purchased in-game who I have essentially no emotional investment in. Even Murky, as annoying as he was in his initial stages, held some measure of sentimental value to me because I was once a newbie in World of Warcraft, hopelessly outmatched by the murloc hordes.

Why mention this? My review of Rehgar is not rooted in nostalgia, which is unusual for me. The character is, essentially, just a package of skills and little more. I wish I could say I’m a big fan of his appearance, but ultimately his anemic looking one-handed swatting orc judo does little for me. That said, I am in love with his abilities and talents. His inclusion is a nod to Blizzard’s understanding of their support pool thus far. Rehgar provides a totally unique support experience that synergizes well with certain rosters, and not so much with others. There are clear circumstances where you would pick him over say, Brightwing or Malfurion.

Trait

They told Rehgar he could become anything, so he became a dog.

They told Rehgar he could become anything, so he became a dog.

Ghost Wolf: The most important thing about Rehgar is that he can mount up without a channeling cost. Moreover, while in his Ghost Wolf form, his first hit does double damage before taking him into orc form. That, combined with his acceptable health pool and other skills makes him a real challenge to bring down. He, like Uther, is sure to frustrate high burst damage assassins looking to snipe a careless support.

Normal Skills

Chain Heal: The bread and butter of supports is generally a Q heal, save for the nefarious Brightwing. Rehgar’s is interesting. Chain Heal heals two targets and can be teched up to heal a third. The healing is not as powerful as say Uther’s Holy Light, but it’s versatile and can be made a lot stronger. By the end of the game, if Rehgar chooses to prioritize healing, he’s nightmarish to deal with because he can keep entire teams alive, something some other supports aren’t nearly as good at.

Lightning Shield: World of Warcraft veterans will know precisely what to expect out of this skill. Lightning Shield initially offers no protection but does area of effect damage around the individual with the buff. It’s great to slap on a melee bruiser like Stitches or Muradin. Additionally, it gives Rehgar the ability to efficiently solo clear groups of undead in the mines on the Haunted Mines map. That’s important to note because he’s one of the few supports capable of doing this. Later talents allow Rehgar to do more with this ability, and it’s definitely worth upgrading.

Staring at totem intensifies...

Staring at totem intensifies…

Earthbind Totem: Another gem in Rehgar’s kit, Earthbind Totem drops a totem with an HP bar that slows opposing targets around it. It’s another flexible skill that can be used to prevent escapes, deter chases, even provide vision. Earthbind Totem is probably my least favorite skill to upgrade via talents, but that’s fine. It’s rock solid without boosts.

Heroics

Bloodlust: Rehgar’s first heroic, Bloodlust, is the ultimate team fight tool as far as I’m concerned. It awards surrounding allies movement and attack speed, allowing for quick retreats or crushing offensives. Heroes like Valla and Kerrigan become almost impossible to deal with, in terms of damage. Even Rehgar himself puts out respectable damage while under the effects of Bloodlust.

Ancestral Healing: I’m much less excited about this ability than Bloodlust. Ancestral Healing, after a short cast time, heals a targeted ally to full health. To me, taking this ability signifies that things just not going how you’d want them to, otherwise you’d have Bloodlust. It’s the defeatist talent. Yes, it can be useful, but I feel like Bloodlust offers so much more raw power. The upgraded version of Ancestral Healing does additional healing in an area, which can be solid. The issue I have is that level 20 is a long time to wait for that kind of ability.

Made with HeroesFire's talent calculator

Made with HeroesFire‘s talent calculator

Recommendations

Rehgar performs admirably in a couple of roles, but where he truly excels is as a healer. All but one tier offers him powerful protection oriented upgrades to both Chain Heal and Lightning Shield. I’ll go over my favorite build.

1. Spiritwalker’s Grace – It’s not a glamorous pick, but Spiritwalker’s Grace reduces the mana cost on Chain Heal, meaning you can use it more liberally. This is a powerful boon in the laning phase, and continues to be useful as the game goes on.

4. Chain Reaction – This pick essentially requires you to commit to taking Earth Shield at rank seven. If you do, it’ll boost the heals on shielded targets by 25%, which lines up the obvious combo of Lightning Shield -> Chain Heal on to your main target. This noticeably increases the durability of glass cannon assassins. If Earth Shield doesn’t seem like your thing, Farsight’s also solid for scouting.

7. Earth Shield – Mentioned above, Earth Shield is a great talent for increasing survivability as it creates a damage shield on the target. Chain Heal will also do more healing to the target, assuming you took Chain Reaction.

10. Bloodlust – I know, I know. Why bother doing a healing strategy if you’re not going to take the healing heroic ability? The fact is, Bloodlust is way too good to pass up in almost every circumstance. Moreover, this build lends itself to a style of sudden reversals. You can allow your opponent to commit, dish out shields, heals and then pop bloodlust for the big comeback.

13. Healing Surge – If you’re committed to healing, Healing Surge is a no brainer. It’s additional healing on the main target and an additional target is healed. Fairly straight-forward, and nothing else really rivals it for obvious value in this build.

16. Lightning Bond – What’s the first rule of being a healer? You can’t heal if you’re dead. Lightning Bond awards Rehgar a Lightning Shield whenever he casts Lightning Shield on another player. There’s a lot of obvious synergy with this talent, Earth Shield and Chain Reaction. The longer Rehgar’s alive, the longer the rest of the team stays alive.

20. Gladiator’s War Shout/Storm Shield – This final talent depends on your composition, your teammates and just how committed you are to pushing with mercenaries. Gladiator’s War Shout gives allied mercenaries and minions Bloodlust, and also makes the effect global. This can be huge for a number of reasons. That said, Storm Shield is honestly better if you’re always clumped up with your allies and unable to have mercenaries with you all the time. The shield it provides boosts Chain Heal, and offers an additional bit of protection in big team fights.

 

 


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JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


0 responses to “The Fury of Rehgar”

  1. Chris Leonard says:

    Chain Reaction works off of just Lightning Shield, not any shield. This takes away the necessity of taking Earth Shield in order to for Chain Reaction to be useful. Also takes away some of the bonus to taking Storm Shield at 20. Other than that this is pretty much exactly what I run with unless there is another support on my team, then I’ll start choosing some more Damage talents. I do a lot of Random groups so I tend to always choose Battle momentum instead of Earthshield, soon as your have it you can pretty much solo any merc camp which is useful if your teammates wont.