Lunara Build: Poison Deer

by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

Lunara is a notable Dryad from the Warcraft universe because she is the daughter of Cenarius and the first Dryad to venture out of the woodlands. In Heroes of the Storm she is a squishy high damage assassin with high mobility. Her main strength is the ability to do auto attacks that contain a damage over time effect due to her trait. This allows her to put on massive amounts of single target damage that will often secure her a kill if the target flees too late. If you want to see the basics and stats on Lunara you can check out the BlizzPro hero page here.

Basic Abilities

Nature’s Toxin – (Passive Trait) This trait is what makes Lunara what she is. Her ability to apply a poison with a 9 second duration just by auto attacking is insane.

Noxious Blossom – (Q) A pretty good small radius ability that give Lunara some range and wave clear. Keep in mind this will also apply or refresh the duration of Nature’s toxin so I often like to use it to refresh the poison on a target late to flee.

Crippling Spore – (W) This will apply a pretty strong slow and increase the duration of Nature’s Toxin to all enemies currently affected with Nature’s Toxin. This is another great tool for making sure escaping enemies meet their demise. If you plan on using this on just a single target try to make sure that the 9 second duration isn’t already capped since it will add 3 seconds to a maximum of 9.

Wisp – (E) A great tool that provides vision. I like to use it to keep track of mercenary camps early and boss checks late. It’s also a great tool for tracking likely paths the enemy might take to engage in a team fight. Vision is always a good thing so be sure to remember to use this. It’s easy to get caught up in focusing on doing damage with her and forgetting to take advantage of the amazing tool that is Wisp.

Heroic Abilities

Thornwood Vine – (R) A long range heroic with a short cooldown and 3 charges. I like this ultimate slightly better than her other choice because it promotes the safe approach I find that Lunara needs to take to be effective. It also hits all enemies that is strikes so it can really put in work during those chaotic team fights. The damage you put out probably won’t be as good as leaping strike but it’s still a great choice for a heroic.

Leaping Strike – (R) This heroic also has a long range, a short cooldown, and 2 charges. The damage from this ability is great and it’s slow is amazingly strong. I think Thornwood Vine’s potential is greater since it can hit multiple targets and doesn’t put the ultra squishy Lunara in the thick of things during a team fight. I would say the best way to use leaping strike is to only trigger it when you have 2 charges so that you can leap over the enemies then leap right back to your allies.

The Build

Level 1

Blossom Swell – The radius on Noxious Blossom is pretty pathetic and this talent helps that out quite a bit. It’s going to be much easier to hit those fleeing targets and minion waves with Blossom Swell as your pick. The other option here is Cruel Spores for fast wave clear. Keep in mind though that the qualifier for Cruel Spores is that it ONLY hits minions or mercenaries.

Level 4

Timelost Wisp – I think this is proving to be the winner when it comes to Wisp talents. The reason for this is that when people see the wisp they tend to kill it off right away so having access to that wisp again becomes important for tracking the enemies movements. You can make arguments for the other Wisp talents but at the end of the day I think that Timelost Wisp provides the most bang for it’s buck.

Level 7

Wild Vigor – You will be using Crippling Spores pretty often and this will up the damage of your basics. Pretty much makes this an auto pick with no other choices at this level. This allows Lunara to focus damage with her autos in a way that will leave the enemy in tears.

Level 10

Thornwood Vine – see heroic abilities 

Level 13

Giant Killer – You will be focusing on Auto Attack damage and Giant Killer accelerates that quite a bit. You can drop this talent in favor of Greater Spell Shield if the enemy has burst damage on their team that is being focused in Lunara’s direction. It’s better to survive and have slightly lower numbers as opposed to being constantly dead with 5-10k more hero damage.

Level 16

Invigorating Spores – The extra attack speed provided is probably the most effective spore buff at level 16 so I usually take Invigorating Spores. If you find that your enemies are doing a good job of positioning themselves away from Lunara, and you need to get too close for comfort, then Star Wood Spear is the pick here.

Level 20

Galloping Gate – All the talents at this level are pretty amazing but I often find that no matter how well you play Lunara she often needs an escape button late.  Really no choice is wrong at this level but I personally feel Galloping Gate edges out all the other choices. You may want to keep in mind that Abolish Magic’s effectiveness rises against the likes of enemies like Lunara and Kael’thas due to its ability to cleanse damage over time effects.

The Strategy

There is only one true strategy during the whole game with Lunara and that is the safety dance. Use her superior movement to constantly dance in and out of the enemies range while applying your poison effect. You can wave clear early but make sure that you stay behind your own minion wave. Lunara is especially vulnerable to teams that want to gank her with stun locks. Keep an eye on the mini map at all times and never commit to chasing people for a kill. Your job is to soften targets up enough for your teammates to get the kill. Chasing targets down with Lunara should only be done if you’re convinced that it can be done safely. More often than not chasing with Lunara will cause her death because of her vulnerability.

During team fights stay behind your tank and focus the safe targets. Lunara does plenty of damage even to the tankiest of tanks so play a safe position game at all times. There is no point to trying to rush through the enemy lines to get damage on even the highest priority targets because this will often just get Lunara killed. This makes her weak to heroes like Morales and Jaina because she will have a hard time getting in range to do damage to them. All you can do is hope that your teammates can get in and take care of them while you harass with your long range abilities. In these match-ups Leaping Strike might be a better pick because with 2 charges you can apply a large amount of damage to these tough to get to priority targets while leaping back to safety as quick as possible.

Lunara is a strong hero that needs to be played in a very safe fashion to fully utilize the tools that she brings to the table. Sloppy Lunara play will often leave you dead and sad so try to go into games with the mind set of not dying. I hope that you were able to learn something from this Lunara guide and enjoy playing her as much as I do. Thanks for reading and as always feel free to leave any comments or questions below.