Sylvanas Windrunner comes from the Warcraft universe and is known as the Dark Lady, the Queen of the Forsaken. She once was the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, before Arthas slayed and raised her as the first Banshee.

Sylvanas is a hero with great pushing potential and capabilities that grant good damage during teamfights. She is great at supporting a pushing objective on certain maps as a result of her trait, which makes her a viable first pick or ban on those maps. But first of all, let's look at her kit and her basic build.

 Black Arrows - Trait. Every basic attack or ability by Sylvanas disables minions, mercenaries and structures for a second.  Withering Fire - Q. Sylvanas shoots an arrow at the closest enemy, dealing damage and prioritising heroes. This ability has five charges with a charge cooldown of two seconds. Nearby minion or mercenary deaths grant you one charge of Withering Fire
right away, while enemy hero deaths grant you three charges. Withering Fire can also be used while walking and a purple symbol indicates the enemy that will get hit by your next Withering Fire.  Shadow Dagger - W. Sylvanas throws a dagger onto an enemy that spreads over to nearby targets, dealing damage and applying some damage over time.  Haunting Wave - E. Sylvanas releases a wave of banshees that moves forward, dealing damage. It can be reactivated to become unstoppable and teleport to the banshees location.  Wailing Arrow - R1. Sylvanas shoots an arrow that can be reactivated to deal damage and silence enemy heroes in an area for 2.5 seconds. If the arrow reaches its end, it detonates automatically.  Mind Control - R2. After channeling for one second, Sylvanas takes control over an enemy hero's movement and prevents them
from doing anything else for 2.5 seconds.

Level 1

Overflowing Quiver - Q. When a nearby minion dies, this talent gives you a free Withering Fire shot that immediately hits the closest enemy in range (not going on enemy heroes though). It gives you even more waveclear early on in the game and rewards you, due to the way Withering Fire works, with two Qs instead of one upon a minion death. Mercenary Queen – Passive (situational). This talent empowers non-boss mercenaries that are close to Sylvanas and let them deal 60% more damage. There are very few maps where Mercenary Queen can get a good value. One example is Haunted Mines, where you can get a high reward by pushing with your camps if the enemy team doesn't react to your push. It also empowers the Sapper camps, not only by making their basic attacks stronger but also buffing them while running into buildings so they deal more damage.

Level 4

Lost Soul – W. Whenever Sylvanas' Shadow Dagger spreads to an enemy hero, its cooldown is reduced by 1.25 seconds. This talent helps you to throw your dagger more often during teamfights, increasing your overall damage during these fights. It also will come in handy with her level 16 talent that we're going to take a look at later. You should always be patient with your dagger and try to let it spread in team fights. If you waste it random on single targets without securing a kill, you're missing out on a lot of potential damage.

Level 7

 Barbed Shot – Q. With this talent, your Withering Fire deals 200% bonus damage to minions, mercenaries and monsters,
including the Immortals on Battlefield of Eternity, the Punishers on Infernal Shrines, the Grave Golem on Haunted Mines, and many more. From this point on you can clear or secure an objective on these maps quite quickly with your team and also get one of the best waveclears in the game in combination with the level 1 talent we picked.

Level 10

Wailing Arrow – R. Always thought about what would make Twilight Dream by Malfurion better? Well shooting it from range and not getting yourself in trouble obviously. To be fair, Wailing Arrow doesn't have as large of a radius as Twilight Dream, it deals less damage and the silence duration is .5 seconds shorter, but it is really good during a wombo-combo or when used to eliminate the fear of a clutch heal by an enemy support in the backline while your team is focusing someone down. The crux is to find the right opportunity to activate your ultimate in a teamfight. Normally you don't want to engage with it if your team isn't hiding in a bush and very near to the enemy team, because the silence has already ended once everyone collapses, but if you wait a bit you can deny important heals, stop burst damage, interrupt enemy ultimates like Mosh Pit, or prevent someone from escaping. Her other ultimate Mind Control is normally never the way to go, because you "stun yourself" by being forced to stand at the same point while controlling an enemy hero and it can be disrupted quite simply by either Cleansing the target or interrupting you.

Thomas 'Mene' Cailleux landing a great silence with the Wailing Arrow, allowing Joshua 'Snitch' Bennett on his Greymane to crush everyone.

Level 13

Windrunner – E. If you teleport with your Haunting Wave, it immediately recharges your Withering Fire and your Haunting Wave can
be cast again for free within five seconds after teleporting. THis second teleport will also recharge your Withering Fire charges. This talent synergizes pretty well with Barbed Shot and lets you burst an objective or an opponent down quite effectively, but also provides you the ability to reposition freely during teamfights. This is normally the way to go at level 13.


Will of the Forsaken – Num-key (situational). If you don't feel safe enough during teamfights, with the enemy team is relying on CC chains or combos (like Alarak or Kerrigan) and there is the ever-present danger that you might get caught before being able to activate your E, you might consider taking Will of the Forsaken over Windrunner. This talent makes you unstoppable and grants you 40% movement speed over three seconds. For example, one reason to use this is so the follow-up stun of a Kerrigan combo will not lock you down if you activate this immediately after she tries to all-in you.

Spell Shield – Num-key (situational). Facing a team with high spell damage? Always playing against that one Chromie that snipes you everytime? Well Spell Shield is never a bad decision if you want to feel more safe against those teams but it is very situational. You have to be aware that Sylvanas' Spell Shield has a 30 seconds cooldown, so you might toggle it off so you won't waste it on a single meteor by Ragnaros or something else. It reduces all incoming ability damage for three seconds after it triggers, so a lot of follow-up burst can be mitigated.

Mene repositioning really quickly with the double Haunting Wave on 13.

Level 16

Cold Embrace – W. Sylvanas' Shadow Dagger now lowers the armor of the initial enemy by 25 for two seconds which causes them to take 25% more damage by all sources. In combination with the cooldown reduction of Lost Soul at level 4, it empowers her single-target burst potential significantly and blows up an enemy hero very quickly with good coordination from your team.

Level 20

Bolt of the Storm – Num-key. With Bolt of the Storm at level 20, Sylvanas becomes nearly unkillable. Her great mobility combined with an additional teleport ability offers her a great escape if Haunting Wave is on cooldown or a gap closer if needed to secure a kill. Besides, Haunting Wave needs some time to travel to be used effectively while a Bolt is always there for you if needed (and if not on cooldown...).

Sylvanas is great on maps with push objectives like Infernal Shrines, Battlefield of Eternity, and Haunted Mines. Her power to disable structures can boost an objective push remarkably and makes her first pick or ban material on these kind of maps and if you get the first objective it's not uncommon to get a fort. This grants you an early experience lead and lets you drive the momentum by snowballing really hard if your team plays it safe.

You normally don't want to go into lane all by yourself as Sylvanas, even though you can. The reason for this is the fact that you can get even more value out of your trait with two or three teammates nearby who can apply structure damage every time you push the wave out and disable the fortifications. You can also try to destroy a single tower with your teammates, right at the beginning of the game, to give your team an early experience advantage over your opponents by going on a lane where you think your enemies won't be. Just make sure your flanks are safe so the whole team can disengage when the enemy team reacts to your push.

Although it is very easy to just keep your Withering Fire pressed down, you shouldn't always spam all of your Withering Fire charges. Sometimes there are situations where a few quick bursts of damage will come in handy to secure a kill. You should also consider your positioning when using the ability. If an opponent is really low on HP, you might consider walking a bit closer to the target so your Withering Fire shoots at the closer enemy to secure the kill. Be aware of your spacing and make small adjustments to make sure your desired target is being focused all the time.

You also should be aware of the fact that Sylvanas can take siege camps from early on in the game by disabling both giants at once, stunning the nearest one with her Withering Fire everytime the disable effect wears off and attacking the other one with her basic attacks. With good positioning you can also disable two structures at once but you should always be aware of your enemy teams positioning while standing close to buildings.

Don't use your Haunting Wave to clear a minion wave if you don't know where the enemy team is or you're not standing in a safe position (for example, if you're not behind a wall while trying to defend a huge wave of minions and mercenaries pushing in on one of your structures). This ability is, before level 20, your only escape and without it you can't evade enemy ganks and will die if someone comes for you. You can use it to chase someone or secure a kill but you should be sure to get the last hit so there isn't too much risk involved.

If needed to escape, try to use your Haunting Wave in a clever way by casting it over obstacles to generate more distance between you and the enemy. You can also play little mind games by casting Haunting Wave and running in the opposite direction. If the enemy is following you, just reactivate Haunting Wave to get even more distance between yourself and the enemy. If the enemy thinks he's smart and starts following your Banshees, thinking that you will teleport back, just don't and let him have fun with your Banshees while continuing to walk away. The key is to be unpredictable so the opponent can't anticipate your choice.

Sylvanas is a really good split pusher but that doesn't mean you are supposed to split push all game long. You always should consider if it's safe and helpful to split push at the exact moment. If you can't see every enemy on the map you shouldn't walk alone to another lane that only seems to be abandoned and you should always be aware of opponents changing lanes to stop you. Split pushing isn't helpful if you're on the opposite site of the map, while a teamfight is very likely to begin or an objective is announced where your team needs your assistance. You should always let your team know what you're planning so they don't run into the enemy team at an objective without you.

Mene preventing two towers from shooting to improve the Immortal push

Can't touch this! Disabling two enemies at once? No problem at all.

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