So the first week has passed and a lot of good things happened to my gameplay! While I haven’t actually ranked up to Gold as of this article’s writing, I do feel that my game has improved a lot thanks to the coaching session of NotParadox.
One of the things I did that is totally unrelated to practice is that I changed my account portrait to Kerrigan. It might sound odd at first, and I really don’t want to get so personal, so let’s just say that the Queen of Blades is very important to me because of who it reminds me.
Rehgar
Oh boy, I have definitely put in some work with our favorite wolf shaman! Before actually devoting some time to him, I used to think he was just a weak healer that was only used because of his ancestral. I also perceived his heal to be extremely weak unless you went Tidal waves. I still acknowledge that his healing is weak, especially in early levels, but his versatility as a support goes beyond being just a heal bot.
Things I have learned:
- The wolf weave: His mount is extremely good at harassing. Just going into mount, lunging at an enemy and then retreating is very good and establishing an aggressive game plan. The cooldown is really short, which is one of the things I haven’t previously noticed. Lunging at people every 4 seconds is extremely fun
- The totem follow-up: If you asked me a month before, I would have told you that totem is the worst ability unless talented. I used to think so little of it, that I wouldn’t dare use it unless I went colossal totem and Earthgrasp totem. Now I have finally understood the usefulness of a 35% slow, especially as a follow-up to lunging an enemy and covering his escape route.
- Cleansing: Cleansing is so good for saving your teammates. Even cleansing a minor slow can mean the difference between living or dying. I still have a bad habit of thinking cleanse is a miracle save for an ally who is about to die, which means I cleanse people who don’t actually have any CC on them just because I think it is for the better. I will work on “cleansing” that habit from me… ha ha ha.
- The pianist save: At level 13 you unlock Earth shield, which is a percent shield on your W. At this point you can save any ally by using cleanse, Q, Earth shield and ancestral. Sometimes all 4 of them, sometimes a combination. Getting the appropriate combination is crucial to being the best support ever.
- The uses of ancestral: Everyone knows Ancestral is a huge heal, but healing the right target at the right time is a skill to be developed. Before I used to think that ancestral was only for clutch heals. Now I know it is more than that. Saving a low hp ally who is retreating from t he fight can be a difference maker, because we all know how muchar harder a 4v5 is than a 5v5. Responsible uses of ancestral make your team happy.
- The healing totem: So apparently my healing totem placement is good. As a 30 second manaless 20% heal over 10 seconds, the amount of out of combat healing it can output is too damn high. The real trick is using it in combat. The totem has 50 HP, so it dies really fast, which means placing the totem on a position where it can heal the most allies but not be exposed to enemies is another of those things that make or break your support gameplay.
- Wave clearing: When people die, the first thing they do is look at the mini-map and find someone to blame. Seeing the healer away from the fight is just asking for trouble and a “Where is the healer”. Those comments make it harder for supports to accomplish stuff around the map that isn’t healing people. Enter Rehgar and his great wave clear. Wave clearing is stupidly good at low ranks because no one does it. As a Rehgar it is very easy to go clear waves and then be back to save your idiots.
- “Don’t cap it”: One of my objectives was to do camps before objectives. I have found that people usually kill camps and then cap the point, so I made a habit of saying “Don’t cap it yet” so that we can time it better for upcoming objectives. It doesn’t always work, but most times people actually understand the value of doing so.
I actually think I learned a good deal of valuable things this week. Expanding upon this concepts and applying them to other heroes might just be my ticket into the upper leagues. I think that my mechanical skill is good enough to be in higher leagues, but I don’t want to be there if it means my game sense is not up to par and all I’m good for is attack-moving.
