Sarah Kerrigan… Once a renowned member of the Terran Ghosts from the Starcraft universe, later turned into the ferocious Queen of Blades as we know her in Heroes of the Storm. Kerrigan is a Melee Assassin with great CC potential and self-sustain through the shield she builds with her trait. She has recently received a rework, making her even more deadly and self-sustaining.

To learn more about Kerrigan we teamed up with Team Dignitas’ Flex player, Joshua “Snitch” Bennett to get his take on the Queen of Blade’s viability in the meta and if the rework was an improvement.

Snitch: “Kerrigan, since her rework, does everything she did before better. She generates more shields, she does more damage, and she has increased mobility in teamfights.”

Mobility Queen

One of the major changes in Kerrigan’s rework is the new charge system on her Q. Ravage now has two charges baseline, giving Kerrigan the option to be much more mobile in teamfights than she was before her rework.

Snitch: “Ravage having two charges changes her engage a lot! Now you can Q in towards an enemy hero, and if they use their escape, like Falstad E, Valla E, and so on, you can Q to them again and land your combo.

You can also use it within a full-on teamfight to position yourself better by jumping to one target to get in the range, then jumping to your intended target and landing a big combo on them.”

Has the combo changed with the rework?

So, the classic Kerrigan combo was to put your W on the ground, pull the enemy hero into it with your E, and finish them off with your Q when they try to escape. Our initial thought was that this combo hasn’t changed, but was just easier to land reliably after the rework. Let’s see what Snitch had to say.

Snitch: “The combo hasn’t really changed at all, you just have better tools to land it with the double Ravage. You have better tools to position yourself for it and make sure you get the damage in from the newly added pulse damage from your E.”

Will the Ultralisk finally be munching?

With the recent rework of Raynor, we have seen the Heroic Raynor’s Raiders being played more often and, would you believe it, Kerrigan also has a Heroic that can spawn a controllable minion that even comes with a stun. Is it enough to push Maelstrom to the side though?

Snitch: “I’m still not a fan of Ultralisk, but I think for the most part Maelstrom will still be the go-to Heroic choice. It fits very well into her playstyle with her increased shields, and the benefits from Ultralisk are so situation specific that you are likely to still get more value from Maelstrom.”

Solo lane or 4-man?

Now, this is interesting. A Solo laner should have good waveclear, good self-sustain, and be able to hold on their own in the 1v1s. Kerrigan ticks all these boxes after her rework, but she arguably has more value in the 4-man with her combo. Other than that, you could also argue that she has a hard time getting away from attempted ganks against her in the solo lane.

Snitch: “I think Kerrigan can be very flexible with her massive shielding and good waveclear in the solo lane, but this requires her to push the lane and make her vulnerable to ganks. You really need good map awareness if you want to run her in the solo lane. She fits really well in the 4-man though, her waveclear gets good value in the 4-man, and she is a prime example of a good ganker.”

Synergies, does she need double Support?

Here is the big question… We know that Kerrigan has a lot of value through damage and CC, but she still lacks an escape. Are her shields enough to keep her alive to get value? Does she need more than one Support to enable her to become a monster in teamfights? She’s got a lot of CC on her own, so does she really need someone else to set up for her?

Snitch: “I think she has a lot of synergy with heroes that can set up CC for her, it’s pretty obvious that it’s easier to land a combo on a target that’s already stunned compared to a target that has free mobility. As for healers, I think we could see Uther make a comeback with Divine Shield. Maybe even the new Brightwing could dive with her. I don’t think she needs double Support with her massive shields that will even be empowered with her shields, and having Maelstrom recharge those shields will make her super sustainable.”

Is she viable outside Infernal Shrines now?

Before her rework, we mostly only saw Kerrigan on Infernal Shrines where she would play her mini-game of Hit the Mole on the Shrines while the surroundings provided an ideal location to land her combos, but with mobility added, is it finally time to see Kerrigan shine out in the open?

Snitch: “She is still really strong on Infernal Shrines, Ravage does less damage now, but her splash attacks with Fury of the Swarm make up for it. She kind of fits better on every map now with her improved waveclear. She doesn’t excel on boss or Immortal damage, but she is not bad at it either - Her auto attacks are not bad and, with talents, her W still does a lot of damage. She is no Greymane, but it’s super dangerous to invade into her as she can lock you down in Immortal and boss stuns.”

Snitch’s Kerrigan build

Level 1: Fury of the Swarm - “100% every game. The other two talents aren’t too bad, but Fury of the Swarm is just too powerful, especially in the solo lane.”

Level 4: Kinetic Fulmination - “The damage increase is just insane, even with the nerf. Getting more damage into the combo is great.”

Level 7: Bladed Momentum - “It’s not as good as it used to be, as it only works on heroes now compared to before where it worked on all enemies. It just feels the best and gives the most value. The other two are not bad, but this just feels better with the current build.”

Level 10: Maelstrom - “Maelstrom just works better with the way she is meant to be played, Maelstrom is just the way to go. The way it generates shields also gives it both offensive and defensive value.”

Level 13: Volatile Power - “Always, always go for Volatile Power. The shield generation is just insane, and the reduction in shield time is barely noticeable while you are in a teamfight. Chrysalis is a pure meme, never take it!”

Level 16: Painful Spikes - “It just synergizes a lot with everything you do in the game and the talents you build. The ticks procs off your Maelstrom as well, so it’s easy to get a lot of value.”

Level 20: Psionic Shift - “The other talents don’t give enough value for level 20 talents, but a blink will always be nice to have.”

Conclusion: Better or worse after the rework?

Snitch: “Definitely better, as mentioned in the beginning; she does everything she did before the rework better. Everything from the added mobility through Ravage charges to focusing more of her damage on her combo makes her more enjoyable to play and stronger in the meta in general. It feels so rewarding to land a good combo, and I hope you all enjoy her rework as much as I do.”