Hey Guys, it's CarlTheLlama, #53 on the leaderboard released today, and #1 support main from that list. I haven't released any content in awhile (been focusing on boosting myself kappa), so here's to fixing that.

http://www.stormlegacy.com/index.php/features/gameplay-articles/100-mind-games-tips-tricks

You can always ask me anything, but if you want to use this post as a special occasion to do so, then go ham like you would on the enemy core.

Knock on wood this doesn't get banhammered.

Zambrah

United States7183 Posts

December 10 2015 00:02 GMT

Tips on Uther please, what are his comp strengths/weaknesses, what are best times to use Divine Shield, where should I be positioned relative to the team (ie, up with melee to stun?)

Honestly any advice to play optimal support is nice. :D

CarlTheLlama

United States43 Posts

December 10 2015 00:40 GMT

haha, those are short questions with either (1) a very long answer that essentially is a guide to Uther or (2) a short answer that's going to have some gaps. Since I don't have time to write my Uther guide right now, I'll go for a shorter answer.

Basically as Uther you aim to prevent your team from dying to burst, and the longer a fight goes the weaker you are. You want to use Dshield primarily to (1) turn an out of position squishy (e.g. Jaina) into an optimally positioned for damage squishy or (2) encourage aggression in someone who's about to be focused (e.g. Sonya). In both cases you aren't looking for low healthbars, you're looking at positioning and what cooldowns they have available. Using Dshield to save someone after they've already gotten low is the least optimal use of the ability. Normal positioning for a support is in the very back of the team, with Uther you're only slightly forward from that. The way to get good offensive stuns is not to be positioned more forward than usual, but to be mounted so you can move up more quickly. Uther prevents people from getting picked, even if they get CCed, but he can't do that for himself if he's CCed. Furthermore, he normally shouldn't be the one leading with a stun, he should be the one following up with the second stun. Even if you beat the odds and get a good offensive stun yourself, your tank is going to be too far back most of the time and it's not going to work out well in the end.

Zambrah

United States7183 Posts

December 10 2015 00:56 GMT

Awesome, very helpful thank you. :D So what kind of comp would you say Uther is best suited to, less triple-warrior comps and more single warrior + assassin comps?

CarlTheLlama

United States43 Posts

December 10 2015 03:01 GMT

Yes and no. Right now every support is niche/situational except Tyrande- you need to see what's on the board and react to it rather than just picking a hero for their own merits. Uther's niche is that he makes one person very special (e.g. Sona) or he can nullify enemy pick potential, keeping them from nuking a single target. Triple warrior comps can't burst things and will equate to longer fights where Uther is going to be less effective (same with double warrior unless that second warrior is Sonya or something else realllly scary), but you also have to look at how much burst damage the enemy team has. If it's Raynor, 2 supports/off supports and 2 warriors, there are better options than Uther (like pretty much anyone in that particular scenario).

Larkin

United Kingdom7161 Posts

December 10 2015 06:26 GMT

Nice article, some good stuff in there.

As for a question... I've been playing a lot of Kharazim lately. I'm pretty inconsistent when building him heavily into heals, with the 7 and 16 talents into his W and Divine Palm - in SoloQ of course it is much harder to co-ordinate when you will hit someone with DP etc and often I spend so much attention trying to hit the right DP I find myself getting focused - this then leads me into this weird limbo where I am trying not to get too into the fight and getting myself killed/wasting DP on myself, and staying out of the fight but close enough that I can heal people who need it.

Yet when going for the more bruiser build, still with Transcendence at 1 but taking 100 fists at 7 and Seven Sided Strike and the extra Q at 16, I've enjoyed far more success in terms of win rate and individual performance. I know for sure my all out support play with him can improve, but since I've been enjoying so much success with the more aggressive build, should I bother? Is the lack of DP really that bad? Should I go for that build even when our team doesn't have Tass/Tyrande too?

CarlTheLlama

United States43 Posts

December 10 2015 09:09 GMT

7 sided is almost always better than Dpalm, regardless of your other talents. And by almost always I mean 99.9% of the time. Because it's better that much of the time, and it take practice to get the precision needed for the ability, I just write it off completely and always go 7-sided with monk.

See how that changes things for you. I generally go the Q talents at 7/16, but maybe 40% of the time I'll go heals depending on how many squishies I'm going to be able to burst with my Qs, who is going to be pressuring their back line (there's a big difference between Zera pressure and Leo pressure), how my 4 teammates are divided into range/melee, how many skillshots I can juke with Qs, and how much sustained damage they have that I'm going to need extra healing for.

Leolio

France633 Posts

December 10 2015 09:51 GMT

Very interesting article, as usual.

you really shouldn’t want to coach your teammates anyways

This is the best advice you can give to anyone. We all end up discussing too much in games for the sake of explaining or trying to win an argument. It only hurt the team.

The respawn roulette part was very interesting, I think it's something we all more or less feel when playing, but putting this into words help us understand it. From now I think I'll be able to use it in games and that's huge.

Also, the small Uther post is a little gem. There's so much to learn from it, thank you.

karazax

United States3737 Posts

December 10 2015 14:45 GMT

Thanks for another great article.

On December 10 2015 09:02 Zambrah wrote:
Tips on Uther please, what are his comp strengths/weaknesses, what are best times to use Divine Shield, where should I be positioned relative to the team (ie, up with melee to stun?)

Honestly any advice to play optimal support is nice. :D

If you want more tips for Uther, this guide is pretty helpful addition to Carl's advice until he has time to write a full guide.

Larkin

United Kingdom7161 Posts

December 10 2015 16:17 GMT

#10

On December 10 2015 18:09 CarlTheLlama wrote:
7 sided is almost always better than Dpalm, regardless of your other talents. And by almost always I mean 99.9% of the time. Because it's better that much of the time, and it take practice to get the precision needed for the ability, I just write it off completely and always go 7-sided with monk.

See how that changes things for you. I generally go the Q talents at 7/16, but maybe 40% of the time I'll go heals depending on how many squishies I'm going to be able to burst with my Qs, who is going to be pressuring their back line (there's a big difference between Zera pressure and Leo pressure), how my 4 teammates are divided into range/melee, how many skillshots I can juke with Qs, and how much sustained damage they have that I'm going to need extra healing for.

Interesting stuff, thank you!