With a thirst for questionable justice and an insatiable hate for Illidan, Maiev Shadowsong has found her way into the Nexus as the latest Assassin hero that looks set to tip the meta on its ever-shifting head.
Touted by Blizzard as a mobile Assassin that excels against clustered enemies and prevents their escape, this really couldn’t be further from the truth. I have spent the week playing around with Maiev and after a little fumbling around (she is certainly a combo based hero who relies heavily on well planned ability stacking), I have come to find that she is no doubt the new OG Valeera in a sense she is the hero a team dreads to see on the enemy team. In her current state, while a blast to play, Maiev does feel a little OP, and the general consensus from the Heroes community seems to agree. When hitting late game, she is an absolute unrelenting beast, especially when paired with other heroes who excel at trapping enemies like Kal’thuzad, Xul and Kael’thas for example. If you get separated in a team fight and become chained by her (W) ability Umbral Bind you might as well sign off on your death certificate because it’s all over.
I’m by no means a crash hot Heroes player and usually opt for the support or specialist side of the hero pool and leave the aggressive kill streaks to my (much more talented) buddies. So when I’m there chaining bladed kill after kill like some sort of Jason Vorhees after a night hitting the ol’ nose candy, I knew something was a bit odd.
Slice n dice
As a hero designed counter those pesky heroes like Nova, Valeera and Tracer, Maiev excels. But maybe a little too much. It’s a problem when you have a hero so quick, strong and vicious that she can take down an entire less experienced team almost by herself.
Putting these OP problems aside, I have been testing out the favoured community build as listed on Heroes Gospel site IcyVeins, which is as follow:
Level 1 – Bonds of Justice
Level 4 – Blade Dance
Level 7 – Bonds of Corruption
Level 10 – Warden’s Cage
Level 13 – Bladed Armor
Level 16 – Armored Assault
Level 20 – Shadow Orb: Huntress
This build is downright vicious, leaning on maximum damage output while also giving Maiev a shell of protection every time an enemy thinks it’s a good idea to fight back. She can absolutely still be countered, however. Bruiser/Tank heroes like Arthas, Diablo and ETC can take her down off her high horse with stuns but they need to be so well calculated to keep her down due to her ability to jump out of danger, and become invulnerable while doing so with her (D) Vault of the Wardens.
Again, I would be very surprised if Maiev didn’t receive some sort of nerf on her damage or ability to become invulnerable while dashing out of danger. She’s at a level that is just too strong and it’s been quite a while since we have had a hero enter the Nexus who feels OP like this. She’s great fun and absolutely shakes the game up in fun and interesting ways, but for the sake of balance the Heroes development team will need to calm that rage just a teeny tiny bit.
Her full talent and tier list are as follows:
Basic Abilities
- Fan of Knives (Q)
- Deal 180 damage to enemies in a crescent area. Hitting at least 2 enemy Heroes with Fan of Knives reduces its cooldown to 0.5 seconds, and refunds its Mana cost.
- Cost: 30
- Cooldown: 4
- Umbral Bind (W)
- Maiev’s next Basic Attack cleaves and applies a tether to enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. If a tethered Hero moves too far from Maiev, they are pulled toward her, dealing 110 damage and breaking the tether.
- Cost: 55
- Cooldown: 12
- Spirit of Vengeance (E)
- Send a shadow of Maiev outward that will return to its cast location, dealing 100 damage to enemies along both paths. Deals 100% more damage to enemy Heroes. Reactivate to Blink to the shadow’s location.
- Cost: 50
- Cooldown: 10
- Send a shadow of Maiev outward that will return to its cast location, dealing 100 damage to enemies along both paths. Deals 100% more damage to enemy Heroes. Reactivate to Blink to the shadow’s location.
- Maiev’s next Basic Attack cleaves and applies a tether to enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. If a tethered Hero moves too far from Maiev, they are pulled toward her, dealing 110 damage and breaking the tether.
- Deal 180 damage to enemies in a crescent area. Hitting at least 2 enemy Heroes with Fan of Knives reduces its cooldown to 0.5 seconds, and refunds its Mana cost.
Trait
- Vault of the Wardens (D)
- Leap into the air, becoming immune to all hostile effects for 0.75 seconds. Passive: Maiev has 15 Armour
- Cooldown: 8
- Leap into the air, becoming immune to all hostile effects for 0.75 seconds. Passive: Maiev has 15 Armour
Heroic Abilities
- Containment Disc (R1)
- Throw a glaive in the target direction. If an enemy Hero is hit, Containment Disc can be reactivated to remove their vision and Time Stop them for 4 seconds. Containment Disc automatically activates 6 seconds after hitting a Hero.
- Cost: 60
- Cooldown: 65
- Throw a glaive in the target direction. If an enemy Hero is hit, Containment Disc can be reactivated to remove their vision and Time Stop them for 4 seconds. Containment Disc automatically activates 6 seconds after hitting a Hero.
- Warden’s Cage (R2)
- Summon 8 Warden Avatars as a cage around Maiev. After 1.5 seconds, enemy Heroes that come in contact with an Avatar consume it and are knocked to the centre of the cage. Warden Avatars last 7 seconds.
- Cost: 80
- Cooldown: 80
- Summon 8 Warden Avatars as a cage around Maiev. After 1.5 seconds, enemy Heroes that come in contact with an Avatar consume it and are knocked to the centre of the cage. Warden Avatars last 7 seconds.
Talents
| Hero Level (Tier) | Talent | Description |
| 1 | [W]Bonds of Justice | Quest: Each tether applied to a secondary target of Umbral Bind permanently increase Umbral Bind’s pull damage by 15
Reward: After applying 5 tethers to secondary targets, increase Umbral Bind’s pull damage by 75. Reward: After applying 10 tethers to secondary targets, increase Umbral Bind’s cleave damage by 30%. |
| 1 | [W][E] Pursuit of Vengeance | Each Hero tethered by Umbral Bind reduces the cooldown of Spirit of Vengeance by 1.5 seconds. |
| 1 | Naisha’s Memento | Activate to make primary Basic Attacks bounce between nearby enemies up to 2 times, dealing 30% more damage to bounce targets. Lasts 8 seconds. Recharge Naisha’s Memento by hitting at least 2 Heroes with a single Fan of Knives. |
| 4 | [Q] Pin Down | Quest: Hit 3 enemy Heroes with a single Fan of Knives.
Reward: Increase Fan of Knives damage by 15%. Reward: Each additional time 3 enemy Heroes are hit by a single Fan of Knives, gain an additional 5% damage, up to 30%. Reward: Hit 4 enemy Heroes with a single Fan of Knives to instantly gain all Rewards. |
| 4 | [Q] Blade Dance | Using Fan of Knives deals 54 Physical Damage to enemies around Maiev. |
| 4 | [E] Sudden Vengeance | Using Blink within 0.35 seconds of Spirit of Vengeance hitting an enemy Hero causes the shadow to explode, damaging all nearby enemy Heroes for 5% of their maximum Health. |
| 7 | [Q] Elune’s Wrath | Hitting at least 2 Heroes with a single Fan of Knives causes the next Fan of Knives to drop a star on targets that deals 77 damage when it impacts. |
| 7 | [W] Bonds of Corruption | Enemy Heroes pulled by Umbral Bind have their Physical Armour reduced by 25 for 3 seconds. |
| 7 | [E] Ruthless Spirit | Spirit of Vengeance’s damage is increased by 3% per Minion, Mercenary, or enemy Summon hit, and 24% per enemy Hero hit. |
| 10 | [R1] Containment Disc | Throw a glaive in the target direction. If an enemy Hero is hit, Containment Disc can be reactivated to remove their vision and Time Stop them for 4 seconds. Containment Disco automatically activates 6 seconds after hitting a Hero. |
| 10 | [R2] Warden’s Cage | Summon 8 Warden Avatars as a cage around Maiev. After 1.5 seconds, enemy Heroes that come in contact with an Avatar consume it and are knocked to the centre of the cage. Warden Avatars last 7 seconds. |
| 13 | [Q] Bladed Armour | Each enemy Hero hit by Fan of Knives grants 5 Armour for 5 seconds up to 20 Armour. |
| 13 | [W] Chain Gang | Tethering at least 2 enemy Heroes with Umbral Bind grants 35 Armour for 4 seconds. |
| 13 | [E] Shadow Armour | Blink grants 25 Armour for 2.5 seconds. Maiev’s Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes refresh this duration. |
| 16 | [W] Cruel Chain | Umbral Bind grants 25% Movement Speed for 2.5 seconds. In addition, each time Maiev deals damage to tethered targets, Umbral Bind’s pull damage to all targets is increased by 40%, up to 200%. |
| 16 | [Q][E] Vengeful Knives | For each enemy Hero Spirit of Vengeance hits, Maiev’s next Fan of Knives deals 1% maximum Health as bonus damage to enemy Heroes. |
| 16 | Armoured Assault | While Maiev has more than 15 Armour of any kind, all Physical Damage dealt is increased by 35%. |
| 20 | Shadow Orb: Vengeance | Activate to reset the cooldown of Spirit of Vengeance. Recharge Shadow Orb by damaging enemy Heroes with Spirit of Vengeance 5 times. |
| 20 | Shadow Orb: Huntress | Activate to increase Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 40% for 5 seconds. Recharge Shadow Orb by dealing Physical Damage to enemy Heroes 10 times. |
| 20 | Shadow Orb: Shadow Strike | Activate to deal 75 damage to an enemy Hero, Slowing them by 30% and reducing their Armour by 20 for 4 seconds. Recharge Shadow Orb by dealing Spell Damage to enemy Heroes 10 times. |
