Hey, new players & vets! I've been working hard on these guides. Please check em out!

[Fahren Kaa]

Little backstory: Hi, I'm Oxy. I've been playing Heroes for about as long as the alpha version of the game has been around. My journey has led me, for some obscure reason, to become a team and personal coach/analyst. I love discussing the game's design and routinely get spotlights articles on Team Liquid!

As of late, we've been working hard to turn Icy Veins into Heroes' leading source of Heroes-guides-related information, just as it has (once... ) been for WoW.

Before we start getting any exposure (I'm at less than ~1000 views as of last week), I'm looking for opportunities to get honest reviews from newer players and veterans alike. This is where you MMO-C boys come in! You guys have seen like a million different guides in your lives. You know how they should be, what they should look like. And you happen to be the people we want to serve. Please let me know if you like what you see. I would be endlessly appreciative.

Nova guide: http://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/nova-guide
Valla guide: http://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/valla-guide

Thanks again, and see you in the Nexus!

[Deleted]

More in depth than the usual guides, a very good read. Hope to see one on Zerathul and Sonya soon. ^^

[Hand Banana]

Good to see new guides coming out. I liked Raynor and Nova guide posted here.

Will say I am not a fan of Valla's builds as it doesn't even mention the Q build which is IMO superior to the now pointless W build. Building to make W magrinally better when there is no BM to bring it back quicker has no significant value. Rancor is and always will be a trash talent that seems good but is outclassed by punishment for AA builds in teamfights where you won't be getting 10 (20 for discipline) AA's off in a row since you will be trained non-stop. Similarly manticore is awful. Frost shot over GK or TbD for an AA build, especially one taking NF and Rancor doesn't make sense.

[Reluctant]

I like the guide for nova exept for one small thing.

Double fake actualy makes it really easy for the oponent to know wich is the right one rather thenn harder as you might think at first.

The 2e fake always spawns directly on nova and doesn't move at first.

The 1e clone will always move first. The 2e stands still for a moment. Meaning the one that moves from that spot is the real one. ( and if she doesn't move you can yust hit the clone and her at once with most abilities )

it is usefull for body blocking someone tho

[r3d3mpt10n]

the Clones are also a bit obvious to a well trained eye...

She'd likely use them to back out, yet, the clones can and will move erratically, meaning unless you follow suit and somehow stealth and manage to escape, you're likely gonna get caught and killed.

[Fahren Kaa]

I like the guide for nova exept for one small thing.

Double fake actualy makes it really easy for the oponent to know wich is the right one rather thenn harder as you might think at first.

The 2e fake always spawns directly on nova and doesn't move at first.

The 1e clone will always move first. The 2e stands still for a moment. Meaning the one that moves from that spot is the real one. ( and if she doesn't move you can yust hit the clone and her at once with most abilities )

Although decoys have always been relatively easy to tell apart, I honestly think Double Fake makes it harder to distinguish Nova in an erratic team fight environment, where there are so many different elements to pay attention to. Rewind does allow you to get 4 decoys out at once as well, which is pretty fun.

it is usefull for body blocking someone tho

Decoys have not been able to body block since the December patch.

[Mormolyce]

Although decoys have always been relatively easy to tell apart, I honestly think Double Fake makes it harder to distinguish Nova in an erratic team fight environment, where there are so many different elements to pay attention to. Rewind does allow you to get 4 decoys out at once as well, which is pretty fun.

I agree, in isolation maybe you can pick out the real Nova (which you can do anyway just based off her position, velocity and behaviour) but in a scrum with 10 other things going on a big horde of fakes is extremely visually confusing.

[Fooicus]

Guides look good.

General feedback: A little too much wall of text in places. I think part of the problem here is that the icy-veins page layout compresses paragraphs so that they are unnecessarily thin. Not sure what you can do about that.

For the nova guide: Would consider adding bolt of the storm to recommened at lvl 20. Nova's biggest weakness is her mobility and dying at late game is a disaster. Rewind is very good though. I also don't like the decoy buffs. Much prefer headshot and crippling shot here.

[Thelxi]

I like the Nova guide, but some talents you discard as unviable while they definitely have some use and complement certain playstyles. Like you say lethal decoy is the only level 13 talent choice, that's really not true. Also bolt of the storm is definitely a viable alternative to rewind, especially if you are up against heroes that you know will be hunting you the whole game.

[Deleted]

Interesting nova guide, will give it a try tonight... farming mastery skin so I got something to spend gold on =)

[Fahren Kaa]

Guides look good.

General feedback: A little too much wall of text in places. I think part of the problem here is that the icy-veins page layout compresses paragraphs so that they are unnecessarily thin. Not sure what you can do about that.

I've been told similarly, however, as you pointed out, the layout is pretty much set in stone, as it's been used for years before. One thing I may try to do is add images.

For the nova guide: Would consider adding bolt of the storm to recommened at lvl 20. Nova's biggest weakness is her mobility and dying at late game is a disaster. Rewind is very good though. I also don't like the decoy buffs. Much prefer headshot and crippling shot here.

I like the Nova guide, but some talents you discard as unviable while they definitely have some use and complement certain playstyles. Like you say lethal decoy is the only level 13 talent choice, that's really not true. Also bolt of the storm is definitely a viable alternative to rewind, especially if you are up against heroes that you know will be hunting you the whole game.

I really debated this question, and I've seen the same comments before. I've come to conclude that, in general, the idea is to strip guides down to be as simple as possible. I'm the kind of guy that tries a lot of wacky talents, because I want to make them work. Like, I'm a Gazlowe/Hammer main. But, in the end, guides need to reflect what is the best under most circumstances. One way of seeing things is to go back to the very essence of a hero. Once Nova has dealt her frontloaded burst, she just becomes this much less threatening - somewhat like most casters in League of Legends - due to her mediocre basic attack and long cooldowns. To me, if I deal my burst, and have an assassin trade with me' Nova, we're looking at a 2 for 1. Rewind lets you burst twice, which is just invaluable. Is Bolt good? It is outstanding. I do make a point of saying that it is a situationally good pick for Nova, but for the sake of being clear, I ended up not including it as "recommended", simply because it wasn't a 50/50, unlike many other choices where I do make double recommendations.

Because, in the end, what I recommend is killing your opponents. Get your nimble fingers, boys!

... and thanks for the feedback. I may add a third category of "situatonally situational" for talents such as these as a result of this talk.

I also don't like the decoy buffs. Much prefer headshot and crippling shot here.

you say lethal decoy is the only level 13 talent choice, that's really not true.

The problem I have with Headshot is that it relies on -you- getting the last hit, with something like a one-second leeway. You'll notice that unless you're ahead of your opponents by a level or two, there's always this obnoxious sliver of health left when you perform a combo. I figured that instead of relying on Headshot for damage, I'd go with the safer lethal decoy, which always yields something. Lethal decoy adds something like a Zeratul Void Spike worth of damage, that's nothing to scoff at.

[Fahren Kaa]

Updated guide!

E.T.C.: http://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/e-t-c-guide

New guides!

Uther: http://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/uther-guide

Enjoy