HP: 1650
HP Regen: 3.4414 (480~ seconds to reach max)
Damage: 81
Attack Speed: 1.67/s (0.6 second cooldown)
Attack Range: 5.5
Unit Radius: 0.625




Trait

Black Arrows
When Sylvanas lands a Basic Attack on a target, this applies 1 stack of Black Arrows which lasts up to 3 seconds after last application and stacks up to 3 times. At three stacks, Sylvanas gains +15% of all base damage against such a target.
Comes with an innate Quest, which advances one step for every damage tick Sylvanas applies to a Heroic or Structure enemy that is currently suffering 3 stacks of Black Arrows. At 250 steps of progress, the damage bonus from Black Arrows increases to +50%. At 400 steps of progress, the Quest is considered complete and Sylvanas now leeches for 25% of the damage she does to enemies suffering from 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse, doubling to 50% against Heroic targets.
Basic Attack Black Arrows bonus: +12.15 damage
Advanced Basic Attack Black Arrows bonus: +40.5 damage

Note that if there are multiple copies of Sylvanas on a team, they fully share Banshee's Curse stack applications, no weird exceptions.

UI-wise, enemy Heroes will gain a black dot under the HP meter per stack on them, while non-Heroes will gain stacks with no UI element to communicate this is happening. You can at least tell if a non-Hero is at three stacks, though, as a black swirly aura thing will envelop them at that point.

The in-game description does a poor job of directing the player's attention to the fact that Banshee's Curse affects all of Sylvanas' damage, unfortunately. It does trigger the 'crit damage' effect on damage numbers, but that's easy to overlook, especially since there's multiple ways for Sylvanas to trigger crit damage visuals.

quest bonus is slightly over 30% increase over base 15% boost

Q Slot

Withering Fire
Mana: 25
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Windup: Instant
Every 0.3 seconds for the next 1.5 seconds, fires a projectile at the nearest visible Heroic enemy, or nearest visible non-Heroic enemy if no Heroic enemy is in range, within a radius of 8. (Each projectile separately checks for the currently-closest target) Each shot does 39 damage. (ie a total of 5 shots for a total of 195 damage) Cooldown is instantly reset if Sylvanas is credited a Takedown. Cannot be activated unless a valid target is in range, nor if a prior cast is ongoing.
Black Arrows bonus: +5.85 damage per shot (+29.25 damage total)
Advanced Black Arrows bonus: +19.5 damage per shot (+97.5 damage total)

Note that if no valid target is in range on a given 0.3 second beat, Withering Fire terminates entirely.

Also note that Withering Fire refuses to target Walls or Gates unless no other valid target is in range. With the Heroic/most nonHeroic/Wall or Gate bubbles, it otherwise targets whatever is closest. (eg if Sylvanas is attacking a Tower, and then a Minion gets closer to her than the Tower, Withering Fire will now prefer to hit the Minion) There's also some code for preferring 'engaged' targets, but I've yet to figure out what that means.

Also, the marker itself updates every 0.25 seconds, and so Withering Fire isn't perfectly reliable about switching targets appropriately. eg in my 'switching from shooting a Tower to shooting a Minion' example, it's possible for the numbers to line up so that one last shot gets fired at the Tower after the Minion has gotten in range.

A really weird thing about Withering Fire is that it is a mobile channel and so will be interrupted by Silences and Stuns, but it doesn't actually compete with any other actions, which gives it an extremely strange behavioral profile. For most purposes, it's really basically like eg Imperius' Molten Flame, except Molten Flame runs its full duration once activated even if Imperius becomes disabled, unlike Withering Fire; other mobile channels that can be interrupted by Silences and Stuns pretty consistently block Basic Attacks at minimum. This makes Withering Fire unique in an odd, counterintuitive manner.

different speeds below 3.5/to 4.75/past 4.75 (25 up close, 35 to start but acceleration of 500 to 45 for farther shots)

W Slot

Shadow Dagger
Mana: 50
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Windup: 0.1875 seconds
Throws a projectile at speed 25 at a chosen enemy in range 8, doing 30 damage on impact plus applying a damage over time of 30 damage every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds. (ie a total of 180 damage, 150 of it classed as damage over time) Each time Sylvanas inflicts another form of damage on the target within that duration, all visible enemies within radius 3.5 (Plus the initial target's unit radius) take 30 damage immediately plus have a damage over time applied to them of 30 damage every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds. This spread effect will not hit Walls or enemies already suffering from Shadow Dagger. Casting Shadow Dagger sets Sylvanas' Basic Attack cooldown to 0.15 seconds.
Black Arrows bonus: +4.5 damage per tick per target (For a total of up to +27 per target)
Advanced Black Arrows bonus: +15 damage per tick per target (For a total of up to +90 per target)

An edge case is that Shadow Dagger is canceled if the target gets more than 4 range beyond its maximum range in the windup. Its windup is sufficiently short that this basically requires certain long-range teleports to come up; much more easily seen is attempting a throw on a target that dies during the windup. In either case, this prevents it from going on cooldown or expending Mana.

The spread effect being extended by unit radius is particularly obvious when Shadow Dagger is used on Forts or Keeps, as the entirety of a 3.5 circular radius would fit inside a Fort or Keep's foundation, yet Shadow Dagger will successfully spread to nearby Minions walking past the Fort.

The initial target is marked out for the duration by a purple/black dagger icon hovering over their head; this effect is, unusually, visible to allies and even enemies.

The fact that the spread effect can actually trigger repeatedly is easy to overlook and has some odd edges to it. For example, Dehaka's Burrow puts him into a Stasis that cleanses damage over time effects, but not the Shadow Dagger status itself: thus, Sylvanas can land Shadow Dagger on him, he clears its damage over time, and then Burrow ends and she still uses him to spread its damage effect to everyone nearby. Or in the other direction, Sylvanas can use Shadow Dagger on a target nearby Dehaka, spread the damage to him, he Burrows to cleanse the damage, and then she spreads the damage onto him again because he's no longer afflicted.

E Slot

Haunting Wave
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 11 seconds (0.5 second delay before it can be reactivated)
Windup: 0.1 seconds
Sends a wave in the chosen direction, which advances down a 24-degree cone at speed 9 out to up to radius 13.96 over the course of 1.5 seconds in 24 ticks, doing 114 damage to all enemies it hits. (Each enemy can only be damaged once by a given wave) Can be reactivated up to 1.75 seconds after cast, causing Sylvanas to launch to the center point of the wave's current or last location. During this launch, Sylvanas is Unstoppable her pathing collision is completely disabled, but she cannot Basic Attack or use other Abilities until she reaches her destination, and reactivation also terminates the damage wave prematurely. Cannot be reactivated if Sylvanas is currently Rooted.
Black Arrows bonus: +17.1 damage
Advanced Black Arrows bonus: +57 damage

Note that the in-game description describes Sylvanas as 'teleporting' to her destination when reactivating Haunting Wave, but just seeing it in action it doesn't look like a teleport (Sylvanas jolts to her destination quite quickly, but you can in fact see her traveling through the intervening space, unlike actual teleports), and in terms of mechanics it's absolutely not a teleport: for example, a teleport will break unit-targeted projectiles that are on the way to the teleporting unit, whereas Sylvanas can absolutely be killed by a ranged Basic Attack fired before she reactivated Haunting Wave, or for that matter a melee Basic Attack can hit her as she goes past. Similarly, Sylvanas can be caught by Skillshots, injured by area of effect moves, and otherwise take damage from stuff she ends up passing through.

Slot 1

Possession
Cooldown: 25 seconds (1 second between charges)
Windup: 0.1 seconds
Instantly converts an enemy Minion within range 10 to Sylvanas' side permanently. The Possessed Minion is healed to full and has any negative effects on them removed (Including clearing the Curse on Cursed Hollow) and Sylvanas collects their full XP value. (Or they drop their Regeneration Globe if used on a Leader Minion) Possessed Minions in turn drop nothing for the enemy team when killed and cannot be Possessed again by an opposing Sylvanas. Stores up to 4 charges, and usage on a Catapult or Reaver Minion requires and expends 3 charges.

This has several bits of jank to it.

First of all, while this is in many ways akin to instantly killing the Minion, it doesn't actually count as such for mechanics: Azmodan will not get Annihilation from a Minion Sylvanas Possesses shortly after Globe Annihilation hits them, Nazeebo won't get Voodoo Ritual stacks out of a poisoned Minion being Possessed... broadly, Sylvanas can deny teammates Quest progress and Talent triggers that hinge on Minion deaths, which is not ideal. It also doesn't credit the Minion's remaining HP to Sylvanas' Siege score the way proper instant-kill effects do, and if Sylvanas takes Unstable Poison, the Minion won't trigger its splash damage. (This last one didn't matter back when Possession was a Talent that competed with Unstable Poison, but it matters now!)

Also janky is that it provides one of the only ways for friendly fire to occur in Heroes of the Storm, as any unit-targeted projectiles that are still on their way to the Minion when the Possession occurs will complete their journey and hurt the Minion. So try to not have Sylvanas Basic Attacking a Minion you're about to Possess, and certainly don't toss a Shadow Dagger and then immediately Possess the target.

Heroic 1

Wailing Arrow
Mana: 100
Cooldown: 90
Windup: 0.1
Fires a projectile at speed 13 out to up to range 18. Upon either reaching its maximum range or Wailing Arrow being reactivated, hits all enemies within radius 3.5 for 228 damage, and Silences all affected enemies for up to 2.5 seconds.
Black Arrows bonus: +34.2 damage
Advanced Black Arrows bonus: +114 damage

0.25 second delay before it can be reactivated?

Heroic 2

Mind Control
Mana: 50
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Windup: 0.25
Fires a 1-long and 2-wide Skillshot projectile at speed 12 out to up to range 13, which stops at the first Heroic enemy it hits. That Heroic enemy is afflicted with a full 3 stacks of Black Arrows, and for 1.75 seconds they are Silenced, suffer a -30% Slow, and automatically walk toward Sylvanas, unable to attack, use Abilities, or control their own movement. Unstoppable enemies will intercept the projectile and only suffer the Black Arrows effect.

Note that Mind Control's effects of disabling Basic Attacks and controlling the target's movement are tied up in the Silence effect, where the Silence being cleared or blocked means those effects are also cleared or block. So for one thing don't bother trying to Mind Control Deathwing. (It will still apply three stacks of Banshee's Curse on him, mind...)

And yes this means Sylvanas always has a Silence once she has a Heroic Ability. This is pretty unusual Hero design; Heroes are rarely forced to acquire a specific type of capability at their Heroic tier.

Level 1 Talents

Might of the Banshee Queen
Each time Withering Fire hits a Heroic enemy, Sylvanas gains +5% Basic Attack speed and +5% of all base Spell damage stacking up to 5 times (ie +25% Basic Attack speed and +25% Spell damage), and lasting up to 6 seconds past last application.

The game says Might of the Banshee Queen gives Spell Power, but this is not truly correct, as Spell Power includes boosting healing output, and Might of the Banshee Queen does not do so. This is minor as Sylvanas doesn't have any custom Spell Power-affected healing and Hearthing while benefiting from Might of the Banshee Queen is basically impossible to achieve in a real match, but still.


Unrelenting Torment
Shadow Dagger's duration is increased from 2.5 seconds to 3.5 seconds, and it adds 20% of base damage to all components. (ie +6 damage per tick per target. In conjunction with the duration extension, raises damage maximum from 180 to 288)

Note that Black Arrows' damage boost is also an additive modifier, and so the +20% damage part of this is a little less impactful than you might assume, especially once Sylvans hits the first Quest checkpoint.


Overwhelming Affliction
While a Heroic enemy has 3 stacks of Black Arrows, they suffer a -15% Slow that lasts up to 3 seconds past last application. (The Slow can be purged by eg Unstoppable while a target still has 3 stacks of Black Arrows without this removing the stacks, but will be reapplied when Black Arrows is refreshed) When Sylvanas lands a Basic Attack on a Heroic enemy suffering a Slow of any kind she additionally does damage equal to 1% of the target's maximum HP.

Note that the percent damage tick does not give progress on the Black Arrows Quest.

Level 4 Talents

Unstable Poison
If an enemy Minion dies while having any stacks of Black Arrows or while damage over time from Shadow Dagger is still on them, that Minion explodes in radius 2.5 for 150 damage. This damage only affects Minions, Mercenaries, and Summons.

Note that if multiple Sylvanases are running about on a team, only the one that actually has Unstable Poison will have their effects trigger it. This includes that even though in most respects Black Arrows is shared, this is an exception where the Sylvanas with Unstable Poison has to actually apply stacks of Black Arrows personally to trigger it.

Oddly, the way the code is set up seems to suggest this is meant to only trigger if a Minion has 3 full stacks on it, but no, it triggers with even 1 stack. I'm not sure if this is just Legacy Code Being Confusing or what.

Also note that Unstable Poison does not trigger if the target is killed immediately on impact with no pre-existing Black Arrows or Shadow Dagger on them. This was particularly surprising back when Black Arrows stacks (Well, it was 'Curse of the Banshee' back then, but shhh) were applied before damage was calculated, but is still worth explicitly spelling out.

I should also point out that the explosion damage fully interacts with Black Arrow stacks; this is particularly significant if Sylvanas takes Festering Wounds and takes Life Drain and/or completes her Quest, as at that point she can detonate a Minion wave for a big injection of healing.


Mercenary Queen
Allied Mercenaries within radius 9 of Sylvanas add +60% of their base damage. (This does not stack with Mercenary Lord's damage boost on The Lost Vikings) When Sylvanas deals damage to Mercenaries that have 3 stacks of Black Arrows, a Stun is applied or refreshed with a maximum duration of 3 seconds, and she deals an additional 30% of all base damage to Mercenaries with 3 stacks of Black Arrows. Basic Attacks instantly apply 3 stacks of Black Arrows to neutral Mercenaries. Elite Mercenaries cannot be Stunned.

Juggling four mercenaries is difficult enough this is easy to botch on Knight camps and Raven+Goliath camps if Sylvanas doesn't prioritize removing the Sorcerer or Raven first so she can get the camp down to an easier 3 targets, but most non-Elite camps are 2-3 individuals, which is much easier to correctly juggle.

Note that the in-game description is misleading and makes it sound as if this only helps against Neutral Mercenaries, but Mercenary Queen's Stun and damage bonus works on Mercenaries fighting for the enemy team; the only part that is exclusive to neutral Mercenaries is the 'instantly apply 3 stacks of Black Arrows' part. As such, while this Talent has a particularly dramatic effect on her ability to take Mercenary Camps by herself, it's also pretty helpful for neutering enemy Mercenaries, particularly non-Elite Mercenaries with low headcounts like Siege Giants.

Also unexpected is that while Elite Mercenaries are immune to the Stun, this is not truly caused by their baseline Unstoppable status: the Turrets found on Overwatch maps are also Unstoppable, but Mercenary Queen can Stun them!

I should also emphasize that while Elite Mercenaries are immune to the Stun and Sylvanas' presence won't boost their damage, the extra damage bonus still applies to Elite Mercenaries, and so Mercenary Queen is still helpful for quickly taking Boss Camps and Sentinel Camps. This includes that it even applies 3 stacks of Black Arrows instantly such neutral Mercenaries, which is a small thing but still a nice bonus.

On a more trivial note, the aura is disabled if Sylvanas is in a Vehicle (ie the Dragon Knight or Triglav Protector) and furthermore the aura only updates itself every 0.5 seconds, meaning it can linger for a noticeable period after Sylvanas has wandered away from friendly Mercenaries and similarly can take a moment to kick in as she approaches friendly Mercenaries.


Haunting Arrows
Cooldown: 90 seconds (Reduced by 3 seconds each time she lands a Basic Attack on a Structure) (Cooldown does not start until effect ends)
Windup: Instant
Sylvanas' Trait can now be clicked. Upon doing so, for the next 10 seconds, Sylvanas Stuns all Minions and enemy Structures when hitting them with Basic Attacks or damaging Abilities. The Stun lasts up to 3 seconds past last application.

This spent a really long time being a baseline part of Sylvanas' kit, with Possession instead being the Level 4 Talent in this slot. There were a few other differences, but broadly this is accurate; I very much approve of it being removed from her core kit, because one of the problems it produced was that Sylvanas' team could open three-lane maps by going to a random side lane and have very good odds of getting to just completely demolish the Towers in that lane for free. Even if the enemy guessed this was going to happen and went to a side lane themselves, they'd only have a 50/50 chance of picking the correct side lane... and risk the possibility that Sylvanas' team had actually just gone to the center, but responds to the enemy team not being there by freely demolishing those Towers.

Shifting it to be a Level 4 Talent nicely removes that unpleasant bit of design, so I really appreciate it...

... though in practice I find that I'm a bit unfond of its design as a Talent. Less unfond than when it was innate, but still.

First of all, Haunting Arrows has the unusual flaw that it effectively 'times out' unless you're specifically on Towers of Doom, as it doesn't affect the Core. Sylvanas can still use it to disable Minions at that point, but not only are Minions generally easily deleted in general at that point in a match, but this highlights it competing with Unstable Poison, which isn't bound by a harsh cooldown, never substantially times out on the main of its utility, rapidly deletes waves instead of merely shutting off their offenses and movement, and can directly help against enemy Mercenaries and Summons in a way Haunting Arrows simply can't.

Second, the nature of Haunting Arrows' design makes it basically useless if Sylvanas' team is on the back foot, which is always undesirable in s Talent; you don't want to be picking a Talent that's poor or useless at turning things around if you're losing. More specifically, Haunting Arrows is strong when Sylvanas is ignored by the enemy team and so gets to simply push in Forts uncontested... but even there, it's actually not clearly superior to Unstable Poison, as Unstable Poison lets Sylvanas rapidly delete enemy Minions basically incidentally, maximizing how much her own Minions soak fire from the Structures. In conjunction with Possession, if Sylvanas is being ignored for an extended period, Unstable Poison is plenty for letting her more or less continuously assault the outer layer of enemy defenses.

Third, this switch occurred alongside the complete removal of the Call For Help system; when I got into Heroes of the Storm, part of Sylvanas' strength was letting her team safely delete enemy Heroes even in the shadow of a Fort or Keep by disabling the relevant Structure, but with the removal of that mechanic, Haunting Arrows essentially completely lacks that utility. It's only if Sylvanas' team wants to pursue a target into a Structure's shadow and no Minions are nearby that utility applies -and I don't just mean friendly Minions. Since Sylvanas can steal enemy Minions to create an instant distraction the Structure prioritizes, even enemy Minions being nearby can let Sylvanas baseline pursue into a Fort or Keep's shadow.

To be clear, Haunting Arrows can be quite powerful (and obnoxious) if Sylvanas' team is overall winning, letting her team simply hard-push a Fort under circumstances where they really ought to be forced to back off by their Minions dying, that kind of thing, but its current position doesn't have a distinct use-case from Unstable Poison, and I think it's probably just a weak choice riight now.

Level 7 Talents

Barbed ShotIf a given use of Withering Fire has all 5 shots hit the same target, the fifth shot adds +400% of its base damage. (ie +156 damage)

Note that since this is a (very large) additive modifier, it doesn't get substantially boosted by Banshee's Curse: Sylvanas will just end up hitting for +415% or +450% damage.


Lost Soul
When Sylvanas lands a Basic Attack on an enemy Structure or Heroic enemy who has 3 stacks of Black Arrows, Shadow Dagger's current cooldown is reduced. By 0.75 seconds for Structures, or 1.5 seconds if the target is Heroic.

As Sylvanas attacks 1.67 times per second, sustained fire results in 1.2525/s average acceleration against a Structure, and 2.505/s against a Heroic target.


Festering Wounds
Haunting Wave adds 15% of its base damage. (ie +17.1 damage) Additionally, Haunting Wave applies 3 stacks of Black Arrows to all targets it hits.

This can be combined with Unstable Poison to get a particularly abrupt deletion of a Minion wave. It also can be used from ambush as a way to set up a big burst of damage instead of needing to wait for three Basic Attacks to be landed, which is particularly appreciated if you plan to go for Wailing Arrow instead of Mind Control.

Level 10 Talents

Wailing Arrow

or


Mind Control

Level 13 Talents

Cold Embrace
Shadow Dagger's primary target suffers -25 Universal Armor for up to 2.5 seconds after being hit. Secondary targets instead suffer -10 Universal Armor for up to 2.5 seconds after Shadow Dagger spreads to them.

Note that though this duration is equal to Shadow Dagger's base duration, the Armor penalty is not actually tied to Shadow Dagger's own statuses. Most bluntly, Unrelenting Torment making Shadow Dagger last 1 second longer doesn't affect Cold Embrace's duration.


Windrunner
When Haunting Wave is reactivated to launch Sylvanas, Withering Fire's cooldown is reset, and for up to 4 seconds afterward she can cast a third Haunting Wave for free. (And thus potentially trigger the Withering Fire reset twice)




Remorselessness
Sylvanas' Basic Attack range is increased from 5.5 to 6.5. When Sylvanas lands a Basic Attack on a Heroic enemy who has 3 stacks of Black Arrows, a single unTalented shot of Withering Fire is launched from that Heroic enemy at the nearest target within radius 8 and applies 1 stack of Black Arrows to whatever enemy it hit.

This is another Talent whose in-game description is terribly misleading, as it does nothing to suggest that the Withering Fire shot comes from the target rather than Sylvanas herself. Among other points, if a player was looking at the in-game description and thinking of this as a way to enhance their ability to win 1v1 duel... sorry, nope, if the only enemy in the area is the one Hero, then the Withering Fire shot simply doesn't trigger.

It's also got an oversight, in that it doesn't increase the 'MinScanRange' value any, meaning Sylvanas will still only automatically acquire targets within range 5.5. On the plus side, it also used to have an issue where it wouldn't fire its shot if the target died, and that got changed so now that will still fire from where the target was when they died.

Remorselessness's Withering Fire shot prioritizes Heroic targets over non-Heroic targets, ignores Gates and Walls unless they're the only options, prioritizes closer targets over farther targets, and prefers 'engaged' targets. (Whatever that means) Put another way, it behaves exactly the same as regular Withering Fire for target prioritization.

Level 16 Talents

Evasive Fire
Each time a Withering Fire shot hits an enemy, Sylvanas gains a stack of Evasive Fire, up to a limit of 5 stacks. Each stack grants Sylvanas +6% Movement speed, and thus at max stacks she has +30% Movement speed. In addition to these stacks being refreshed when incremented, Sylvanas landing a Basic Attack refreshes all stacks. All stacks time out 2 seconds after the last time they were refreshed.

It's so odd that this triggers on any target.


Life Drain
Anytime Sylvanas deals damage to enemies with 3 stacks of Black Arrows, she heals for 15% of the damage dealt. This effect doubles to 30% against Heroic enemies.

This fully stacks with the leech granted by completing the Black Arrows Quest, meaning Sylvanas can potentially leech for 80% of the damage she's doing to Heroic targets. As a Hero who is initially very frail and with zero self-recovery, it can be quite shocking to foes for her to suddenly become able to shrug off enormous amounts of punishment for as long as combat lasts.


Will of the Forsaken
Additional activatable ability
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Windup: Instant
Sylvanas gains +40% Movement speed and the Unstoppable status for the next 3 seconds.

As Unstoppable blocks Slows, Roots, etc, that Movement speed boost is guaranteed to go its full duration.

Level 20 Talents

Deafening Blast
Enemies within radius 1.75 of where Wailing Arrow detonates have the Silence duration raised from 2.5 seconds to 5 seconds, and have Wailing Arrow add 50% of its base damage against them. (ie +114 damage)

This spent a long time having a weird bug where the enemy's center had to be inside the radius, making Deafening Blast strangely fiddly. I'm extremely glad it no longer has that jank.


Dark Lady's Call
Mind Control's base cooldown is reduced from 40 seconds to 15 seconds, and the Heroic enemy hit by Mind Control has their sight radius reduced to 3.5 for 5 seconds and they don't benefit from allied vision in that period. (As opposed to the usual sight range of 12)

unstoppable still blocks Silence/pull, but not vision reduction


Withering Barrage
Each shot of Withering Fire applies 1 stack of Black Arrows, and each Withering Fire shot that hits a Heroic enemy reduces its current cooldown by 0.75 seconds. (ie up to 3.75 seconds of cooldown reduction, giving it potentially an effective cooldown of 4.25 seconds)




Bolt of the Storm
Additional activatable ability
Cooldown: 70 seconds
Windup: Instant
Sylvanas instantly teleports to a point within range 7.2.



--------------------------------

Next time, we cover Artanis.

See you in the Nexus.