Illidan relies heavily on strong mechanics and well-timed abilities and is one of the most unique Heroes in the game. He is cited in-game as a “Melee Assassin”, but it would be better to call him an elusive fighter who dances around the battle. He has a rather low health pool, but compensates for it with his ability to weave in and out of battles while evading basic attacks and mitigating spell damage. His interesting playstyle puts an emphasis on cooldowns and positioning, pushing his skill curve super high. For most players, the first few games of Illidan are tough, but in the hands of a seasoned players, he can look unstoppable.

Pros:

• No mana! His Trait lowers the cooldowns of his abilities by one second per basic attack
• Fast attack speed with decent damage and lifesteal, allowing him to dish out a lot of damage over time and sustain well in lane
• Tons of damage mitigation to keep him alive during fights
• Extremely high mobility and unlimited chasing potential
• Basically, he’s really fun!

Cons:

• Low health pool which makes him vulnerable to burst
• Vulnerable to hard crowd control abilities
• Early game is weak compared to most Heroes
• Difficult to learn
• Needs a certain team composition in order to be good

Since his introduction in the Heroes of the Storm Alpha, Illidan has had many ups and downs, from hands down the worst Hero to arguably the hardest carry in the game. When he first came out, he was very weak and had very little survivability, but after some buffs to Metamorphosis and talent reworks, he became a powerhouse, and in fact dominated the meta for a little while. Blizzard decided he was too powerful after all and heavily nerfed the damage on Metamorphosis, effectively removing him as the ultra carry he used to be. Still, his decent damage and crazy mobility remain. After a roller coaster of balance changes, Illidan has finally arrived in a place that is more or less balanced, but dictated strongly by changes to the meta. In favorable conditions, he can even be worthy of first pick.

For the most part, Illidan has always had a set build path with few deviations, the only really major point being whether he took The Hunt or Metamorphosis. This is partially due to a lot of uninspired talents which look to increase Illidan’s already insane mobility or talents that simply don’t do enough like Thirsting Blade or Regeneration Master. Luckily, despite fairly confined build paths, Illidan is such a skill dependent hero that there are many different styles and ways to differentiate yourself.

Most of Illidan’s level 1 talents are decent, but Shadow Shield ends up just outclassing them all by providing insane amounts of survivability. Regeneration Master simply doesn’t keep him alive compared to Shadow Shield, which is approximately 150+ shields every 6 seconds to block both basic attacks and spell damage if he's attacking constantly. Seasoned Marksman is incredibly good on Illidan due to his fast attack speed, but unfortunately he can't really make good use of it if he can't survive, and Shadow Shield is too good to pass up. Though Battered Assault gives a decent boost in base attack damage, it is less reliable than Seasoned Marksman because it falls off hard in the late game and assumes that you will always have the sweeping strike damage bonus up.

There’s really only one choice in this tier, and that’s Immolation. Immolation gives a huge boost to your damage over time that none of the other options really compare to. Marked for Death is an interesting assassin talent, but as mentioned earlier, Dive actually lowers your DPS, so Marked for Death essentially just evens out the DPS you lose when you spam Dive, and Immolation ends up being superior in damage anyway. Fel Reach is unimportant since you have plenty of mobility and unlimited chasing potential already. Thirsting Blade is perhaps the only talent in this tier that is almost competitive since it boosts your survivability. However, at only a 10% increase in lifesteal, it doesn’t match up to the huge damage boost from Immolation. In fact, Immolation is a large part of why Illidan can solo merc camps and clear minion waves decently.

First Aid is to go-to talent in this tier, mostly because of Illidan’s low health pool and sustained fighting style, but Thrill of Battle (ToB) is catching on with double Support compositions. ToB can be strong since it reduces the cooldown of Evasion to 3 seconds (assuming constant basic attacks) to make Illidan somewhat invincible for 8 seconds. Additionally, ToB can lower the cooldown of Metmorphosis to under 60 seconds so it's comfortably up for every engagement. Reflexive block sounds good in theory, but doesn’t help him survive through spell damage, which is important when diving squishy Heroes like Jaina or Kael. Rapid Chase doesn’t add significant utility to Illidan’s kit, and Follow Through doesn’t present enough of a damage boost to turn him into a burst Assassin.

Up to you!

As noted previously, Metamorphosis provides excellent stat boosts and extra mobility that allow Illidan to remain elusive and dish out quite a bit of damage over time. The Hunt, on the other hand, is primarily used as an assassination and split pushing tool, allowing him to threaten multiple objectives while still remaining relevant in team fights. At the moment, Metamorphosis is a clearly better choice, but The Hunt can still be used effectively in double Warrior compositions.

The talents in this tier start to branch out a little bit. Against high burst and spell damage Heroes like Nova or Jaina, Sixth Sense is a must for the damage mitigation. If used correctly, you can use Evasion to dodge almost all the damage from a potentially lethal set of abilities and trade well. If the other team lacks super high burst or spell damage, you can take Giant Killer to give you some additional offensive capabilities and allow you to deal with a tankier team. Unbound, and Friend or Foe are all geared toward making Illidan more mobile, but like many other similar talents, the extra mobility is simply not necessary. Recently Lunge has seen a brief revival in China, as the extra range allows Illidan players to fight through large, fragmented team fights better; it's important to note that although Illidan can chase people down easier with this talent, it does sacrifice quite a bit of damage from Giant Killer or survivability from Sixth Sense.

The two competing talents in this tier have always been Blood for Blood and Stoneskin, while the lackluster damage and utility of Hunter’s Onslaught and Second Sweep have been largely ignored. Blood for Blood (BfB) is typically the dominant pick, but Stoneskin still has a decent niche if there aren't many good BfB targets or to counter big lockdown combos.

Other than Nowhere to Hide, all of the options in this tier are good. The perks to Demonic Form mean that Illidan is dangerous and can 1v1 anyone at all times, making it the go-to talent if you picked up Metamorphosis. Nexus Blades and Bolt of the Storm compete for spots in Assassin builds which focus on picking a Hero off quickly and getting out. Taking Bolt will help keep Illidan alive and continually doing damage, but if you're already ahead or unlikely to get locked down, Nexus Blades can be stronger.

Illidan is primarily a sustained damage carry, meaning that the longer he’s dealing damage, the more dangerous he becomes. For this reason, it’s really important to note that Illidan’s job is not to initiate fights or try to tank damage. He has excellent damage mitigation tools with Evasion and his extreme mobility with the flip and dash, but he cannot sustain himself for long if he’s soaking damage in a 5v5 teamfight. On the other hand, Illidan’s 1v1 is exceptional. Against auto-attackers, he can cancel most of the damage with Evasion and lifesteal, and his excellent mobility allows him to dodge devastating abilities like Jaina’s Blizzard or Kerrigan’s pull-stun combo. Illidan’s ability to chase is also unrivaled by any other Hero in the game. Between Q and W, Illidan can stick to someone forever and prevent them from escaping, making him perfect for chasing down low health Heroes. Illidan’s chase and ability to move between targets quickly mean that he excels in small engagements and fragmented fights, but he is weaker in big, well-coordinated teamfights.

The ability to disengage quickly using Dive and somewhat ignore walls allow him to go a little deeper into enemy territory than other Heroes. For instance, if you are sieging a fort and the enemy team is pushed back while your team dives, you can push much further out (being careful of hard CC combos) and then just use Dive to flip back over the fort and continue the siege. This tactic must be used judiciously, but allows for good Illidan players to make big plays and get out safely. The walls near enemy gates play a big part in Illidan’s playstyle because he can Dive over them to escape ganks or attack them in order to heal up and reduce his cooldowns. It’s important not to destroy walls early on so that you can facilitate escapes later in the game when no minions are around. In addition, they also serve as a quick way to grab some health if you’re about to die to damage over time (DoT) abilities like Envenom or Lunara's poison.

Illidan’s early game is fairly weak. He has relatively poor waveclear, and it’s very easy to poke him out of lane due to his low health pool and poor HP regen, making it impossible for him to compete with the top solo laners currently like Zagara, Thrall, or Greymane. His kill potential is also rather low, making early ganks with him less impactful than with Zeratul, Thrall, or ETC. In a 1-1-1 split with a two-man gank squad, his job in the early game is to take an easy lane and soak passively, doing minor trades only when Evasion is up. In 1-1-3 and 1-4 splits, Illidan should travel in the group and use his bodyblocks and chase potential to secure kills for his team.

At level 4, Illidan gets Immolation and can solo early merc camps. On PvE maps like Blackheart's Bay and Garden of Terror, this is typically his cue to branch out from his team and start using his superior merc clear to start gaining map control. He also hits another power spike at level 7 when he gets First Aid/Thrill of Battle. First Aid allows Illidan to start taking extended fights in the mid game and be useful in skirmishes over objectives, but he still suffers from a low health pool. It’s not until level 10 that Illidan starts to really come into his own. The Hunt allows Illidan to quickly kill off weak Heroes and at least trade one for one while Metamorphosis allows Illidan to trade in the fight for almost twice as long.

In late game scenarios, Illidan has numerous roles. He can clear minion waves well, take merc camps, do some map objectives by himself, and even carry teamfights. With The Hunt, splitpushing is the name of the game since you can jump into the battle almost instantly while split soaking, as long as you're no further than a lane away. Metamorphosis players should stick with the team most of the time though, since Illidan is a crucial part of teamfights. During teamfights, Illidan should be poking around the edges of the fight, looking for a window onto the squishy back line and should never be the primary engager. Ideally, Illidan is doing his job correctly if he can get onto a target like Jaina or Zagara and chase them out of the fight and into a 1v1, thereby reducing the damage output of the enemy team. As long as he survives, he can then come back into the fight after chasing to clean up weakened stragglers with his relentless chase.

Illidan doesn’t have mana and relies entirely on managing cooldowns and ability juggling, so understanding how and when to use his abilities properly is important to playing him well. Using his abilities in the right order and at the right times is almost always judicious and creates a huge skill ceiling for this Hero.

Use Dive to engage onto a Hero or a minion and begin to auto attack. If your opponent starts attacking you, pop Evasion and trade damage for two seconds, then use Sweeping Strike to retreat. You can use Sweeping Strike offensively instead for a prolonged trade and use Dive on a minion to retreat. The key to doing this correctly is to make sure you are positioned far forward so that you can easily create distance when you Dive to a minion. Generally you want to wait for the other Hero to use an ability on minions first before engaging so that you can trade during the cooldown. Against Heroes that have a lot of sustain like Leoric or Muradin, there may be no point in trading HP, in which case you can use this poke combo to slow down the minion wave by quickly killing off the caster minion and grabbing the regeneration globe on the way out. Never trade without Evasion up!

In a standard engagement later in the game, you want to open with Sweeping Strike in order to get attack damage bonus. Begin to auto attack, but don’t use Evasion unless your opponent is is attacking you and doing significant damage. Saving Evasion can be invaluable against incoming ganks or mitigating damage from undodgeable abilities like Envenom or Kael’s Living Bomb. Sweeping Strike should be used on cooldown to reposition and reset the attack damage bonus as well as Immolation, but in cases where you may need the extra mobility, you can save it to Dive to another target and dash away. Use Dive to dodge clearly telegraphed abilities like Kerrigan’s pull-stun combo or Jaina’s Blizzard or in anticipation of a skillshot, but do not spam it because it lowers your overall DPS.

Illidan has unlimited chase potential by default without any of the mobility talents like Fel Reach and Rapid Chase. The cooldown reduction from his passive allows him to alternate between Dive and Sweeping Strike with a few auto attacks in between in order to chase forever. Simply use Dive to flip over a hero, auto attack two to three times, and then use Sweeping Strike to dash past and auto attack a few times again, rinse and repeat. Good Illidan players will also bodyblock during the auto attacks by kiting with their opponent. In team fights, this can be an excellent tool for isolating a back line hero and following them as they attempt to kite to safety. Taking Lunge at 13 significantly increases the power and ease of this tactic.

Illidan has the ability to quickly close gaps and get on top of enemy Heroes or create some distance and get away from ganks safely. To close gaps and begin the chase on a Hero, Illidan can use Sweeping Strike to get in range of Dive, and then flip over the enemy and begin his chasing combo. Conversely, to quickly get out of danger, Illidan can flip over a wall or minion with Dive and dash away to create enough distance to mount up and run away. In team fights, the disengage combo can be used to great effect to get away from a pesky CC machine like Muradin or Anub’Arak and onto a squisher target.

To put it bluntly, Illidan is a god at taking mercenary camps. With good technique, players can take both Easy and Hard camps the moment they spawn at 2:00, which is usually around level 4. This is especially good on maps like Cursed Hollow and Infernal Shrines where getting an early camp can secure an advantage during the tribute or shrine phase. He's invaluable on Blackheart's Bay since he can solo camps constantly without taking much damage.

One of the biggest mistakes that newer Illidan players make is using Metamorphosis as an engagement tool and not taking advantage of the untargetable frames during casting or the extended movement range it provides. The best use of Metamorphosis falls into three categories:

• A second health bar
• Huge damage mitigation
• An additional gap closer

Using Metamorphosis as a second health bar means playing the first part of a team fight as normal Illidan and then using the extra health from Metamorphosis coupled with First Aid and Blood for Blood or Stoneskin to get back into the fight. Since First Aid and Stoneskin scale with health, they are more effective in Demon Form. Before the engagement, you can initially position yourself behind the enemy team, poking around and causing disruption in the back lines while your team starts chunking out the opposing team’s health. Once you start to get low, use your Heroic to jump back into the fight and finish off some of the enemy Heroes after they’ve been softened up. This is probably the most common use of Metamorphosis, especially in compositions which put an emphasis on the Illidan carry.

The second use of Metamorphosis is for huge damage mitigation. Against immense spell damage like Nova’s Precision Strike, The Butcher’s charge-Furnace combo, or a devastating combo from Jaina, Metamorphosis can be used to dodge the damage and negate big team fight Heroics.

Finally, Metamorphosis also acts as a secondary gap closer for chasing. In situations where an opponent is very low but just out of range of a W-Q combo, you can use Metamorphosis to close the gap. Conversely, Metamorphosis can be used to escape a fight. Combined with a W-Q combo, Meta will get you almost a screen and a half at max. Using Metamorphosis as a gap closer can be very risky if several opponents are up and likely to turn on you. In addition, the 120 second cooldown (though it can be reduced through auto attacks) provides a big window for the enemy team to force a team fight while your heroic is on cooldown. Metamorphosis works over walls and unpathable terrain, so it essentially works like Bolt of the Storm, but much earlier in the game, at level 10.

Like Metamorphosis, The Hunt is also very versatile. It is primarily used as an assassination tool for low health Heroes, but can also be used as a semi-global teleport and an escape tool. When you pick The Hunt, your goal is looking for isolated and/or weak Heroes which you can easily pick off. The threat of this Heroic alone will completely shut down a lot of dedicated split pushing or solo roaming from the enemy team, so it does well against split push compositions. The Hunt lacks a lot of raw stats for dedicated teamfights, so Hunt builds make Illidan less of a carry and more of an Assassin to burst down vulnerable Heroes.

The biggest thing to note about The Hunt is that it ends up having a very short cooldown due to Illidan’s trait. With the cooldown reduction, it's up every 30-40 seconds (down to almost 15-20 seconds with Thrill of Battle), making its frequent use very non-committal. Anytime a Hero is out of position, Hunting to them to punish them is excellent, even if you don’t get the kill. Even using it to get into lane quickly and clear a huge minion wave or pushing merc camp during down time is perfectly fine. Don’t be afraid to burn the cooldown.

In 5v5 teamfights, The Hunt should never be used as a primary engage. The lack of a stat boost and reliable escape that you would normally get from Metamorphosis will get him blown up immediately before your team has time to deal enough damage. Instead, Illidan should be poking around the sides of a battle without committing to cause a bit of disruption and only Hunt in on low health or isolated targets when you can ensure a kill. The most important thing is to let other players on your team initiate the fight and look for your opportunity to pick someone off.

The Hunt also allows Illidan to do split pushing of his own. He can lag behind his team for objectives in order to clear a large minion wave or threaten a fort while keeping an eye out for openings to Hunt in as a teamfight erupts. He can also push up a lane hard to distract the enemy team from an objective, and his Heroic can even be used as a quick semi-global escape tool if several enemies show up to gank him. When playing Illidan this way, it’s very important to watch your team carefully and pay attention to their engagement so that you come in at the right time.

Picking compositions with Illidan requires careful consideration since he offers limited CC and requires a lot of babysitting due to his low health pool. For these reasons, Illidan is not always a solid pick, and compositions need to built around him. The biggest factors for choosing an Illidan team comp are:

• Requirement of burst healing like Ancestral Healing or Uther. Healers that heal over time like Malfurion, Brightwing, and Lili do not have the healing necessary to keep Illidan alive in team fights.
• Weak early game and lane presence, so he needs to paired with other heroes that have strengths in those areas like Zagara or Tassadar.
• Very weak to targeted CC like Uther's stun or The Butcher’s charge. Heavy CC keeps him from healing himself and dodging abilities with his mobility, effectively shutting him down.
• Strong against team compositions with a lot of squishy targets, but weaker against high health compositions like double healer or double Warrior.
• Maps that force early fights like Battlefield of Eternity are bad for Illidan because of his weak early game, but strong objective-based maps like Sky Temple or Infernal Shrines are ideal.

Your first consideration for picking Illidan has to be how to babysit him properly. It is absolutely necessary to grab a strong Support. Uther, Reghar, and Tassadar all synergize excellently with Illidan in terms of keeping him alive and allowing him to deal the maximum damage possible in fights. Abathur used to be paired with Illidan often because of his global presence and the perks symbiote gave, but more recent compositions tend to prefer double Support compositions with a pocket healer Tassadar to shield Illidan. After making sure Illidan won’t die, your team also needs to determine how to make up for Illidan’s lackluster presence in early fights and objectives. Typically, Illidan is paired with a strong laner (like Zagara or Greymane) and/or Heroes with very good early game wave clear (Jaina, Kael’Thas, or Valla). This allows the team to control the early parts of the game decently while waiting for Illidan to ramp up in the mid game.

The second consideration for picking Illidan is the enemy team. Against tanky teams or lots of crowd control, Illidan is practically useless in teamfights and gets shut down before he can do the necessary damage. Heroes like Thrall, Muradin, and ETC can easily counteract Illidan's mobility and lock him down in place. Conversely, Illidan is excellent against compositions with a lot of squishy targets. Double or triple Assassin compositions allow Illidan to get into the fray, divert and mitigate a lot of damage, and kill off weak Heroes fairly easily.

Finally, consider which map you’re playing on. Maps with early objectives that cause lots of early skirmishes are bad for Illidan because of his weak early game. In addition losing early objectives on certain maps is very punishing and can snowball into a loss quickly. Haunted Mines, Blackheart’s Bay, Dragon Shire, Tomb of the Spider Queen, and Battlefield of Eternity are all difficult maps for Illidan. On the other hand, maps that allow Illidan time to build up or allow your team to give up an early objective are excellent. Also, Illidan does well on maps which allow his autonomy and sustain to deal with objectives on his own. The maps he’s best on are Cursed Hollow, Garden of Terror, and Sky Temple.

Illidan doesn’t have mana and relies entirely on managing cooldowns and ability juggling, so understanding how and when to use his abilities properly is important to playing him well. Using his abilities in the right order and at the right times is almost always judicious and creates a huge skill ceiling for this Hero.

Illidan is an excellent hero to pick if you want to work on your mechanics and impress your friends. If you’re tired of playing “click and move easy heroes” or just looking to expand your skillset, I highly recommend picking up Illidan and learning how to play his complex and interesting play style. His emphasis on positioning and skill timing will give you a lot to think about and consider during fights, and good players are rewarded for their skill. For most players, the first few games will be rocky, but once you figure out his limits he becomes quite strong. Most importantly though, Illidan is just a lot of fun. Flipping through the air, dodging all of your opponent's abilities, and being that annoying pest that sticks to them forever -- what more is there to love?