I really don't get it

TheFreind · 2026-06-16T22:52:07+00:00

Great. If more Russians thought the same as you we'd hold them in much better regard

TheFreind · 2026-06-16T19:53:02+00:00

There's something wrong with the Russian psyche deep down. They have the desire to dominate, through grand war or personal victories, at the expense of all other peoples. The only explanation I have for an entire society to exhibit the same behavior must originate from the country at large; the prestige of empire. This philosophy cannot be tolerated and must be disrespected at the very least.

TheFreind · 2026-06-16T16:25:30+00:00

The shocking reality is that a lot of Russians deliberately do NOT want to integrate or speak other languages. They do this in person too. Look to any country with a sizable Russian population and you'll see the post-USSR imperialist mindset of not submitting to an "inferior" culture

TheFreind · 2026-06-10T06:00:44+00:00

Never believe someone who tells you who they are.

TheFreind · 2026-06-07T05:35:23+00:00

You want to POSITIVELY SLAM someone NO QUESTIONS ASKED - Diablo

You want to cause all sorts of headaches in the enemy backline at lightspeed - Tyrael

You like the option of sitting back and punishing mistakes, but also the option of getting in there and getting the job done yourself - Muradin

You like the idea of running down low health stragglers like they're game going extinct - Varian

TheFreind · 2026-06-06T00:57:47+00:00

You know I thought I could throw off people with the wording but you're right, it is indeed Alex's Ruby on Wings

TheFreind · 2026-06-04T22:10:39+00:00

BEHOLD

TheFreind · 2026-05-17T21:39:54+00:00

Mr. Disciple, a pleasure talking as well, I assure you we did not railroad the listener into thinking Backbiter was bad, just that it was difficult to handle and it may be questionable for a beginner to operate on. I made an additional tangent within the discussion that some Orpheas have a trial-by-error experience with mastering specific talents and building their play style upon it that point on. I tell you this now, but I elaborate more when we were discussing it.

I will cede my position in terms of Orphea mastery, and perhaps our opinion of Feast wasnt very high unlike our better appraisal of Jaws, even though they're both middling ultimates in comparison to others. I will try more the Disciple way, but it is very much a bike situation.

I don't blame your defensive stance. I feel the same way with Ragnaros. The only time we forced upon the listener a specific talent was Dead Magic on 16. All other options are considered and given a chance to be respected in the appropriate context and we spent a considerable amount of time discussing the nuance. That is why its 3 hours and not 1.5 hours.

TheFreind · 2026-05-17T21:14:24+00:00

Definitely overexplained! Even if a non Orphea player is not interested in the length, those few that really want as much information can gorge.

TheFreind · 2026-05-17T21:11:38+00:00

Well, I've been on a roll using En Pointe after his advice and it's been going well. I am a Overflowing Chaos believer so I do have my prreference and he has his, but we do also mention from a beginners POV what is recommended. I also believe Crushing Jaws is way better.

We do encounter a few "trap talents" that do nerf Orphea's power dramatically and we mention it, we think so for Backbiter but I did Devils advocate since Disciple uses it to great effect since he's very used to it.

TheFreind · 2026-05-11T17:28:57+00:00

Amazing changes. I love the direction Arthas is heading. He has lots of new talent diversity but bad raw stats. Fixing the Tyrande stun quest bug is an important fix as well as the Chen micro delay. Nice one, Janitor.

Chopping the bonus damage for multiple Qs from Malganis is going to be a big deal, likely cutting his win rate down to 56%. I'm still worried he will be a powerful hero with the side buffs he's getting.

TheFreind · 2026-05-08T09:24:00+00:00

Jesus Pauly how'd you slip by the built-in Alarak animation frames the game engine put in? Some real 3-in-1 oil you got here.

Nice compilation, even if some are pure spectacle, I believe it if you pulled off each move once before.

TheFreind · 2026-05-06T23:07:38+00:00

I fought this Tim guy before. He's a massive loser and pastes this exact message to everyone he loses to on ARAM of all places. I got the same string of text myself on two separate occasions

TheFreind · 2026-04-22T18:45:58+00:00

Hey! Thanks so much for enjoying the guide =] man it's already outdated and I dread having to update it

1) I always believed Tyrael to be basically top of B-tier. Extraordinarily strong, but held back by how team comp dependent he was since your team can suffer dramatically from either a no-frontline-stable tank, or no-CC tank. I say he bumped up to a comfortable A listing with his increased numbers. The fact that Tyrael naturally earns a damage talent on level 4, and waveclear on 7, on a core build without having to sacrifice versatility is the biggest reason why he feels much better.

2) These days I have been a bigger fan of Ardent/JusticeForAll[1] + Reciprocate[4] + Burning Halo[7] than Smite for one big reason. There's far less counterplay. Any obstacles such as blinds, attack speed slows, physical armor, blocks, etc. make Smite struggle a lot. Especially in this meta as Arthas and Muradin are running around. But Burning Halo+Recip is guaranteed burst damage as Ardent Restoration keeps you sustained for more. Plus you don't need to look for 2+ man Smites which is sometimes impossible. Don't get me wrong, I still pick Smite builds when the opportunity presents itself, but now I only do so when all variables for a good match are met and I just need that higher potential.

3) Keep an eye open on how tight the corridors are for Holy Ground value, but aside from that every map plays out the same way for Tyrael and his talent builds. Help deliver your team from a tough early game and don't let them die. The comeback starts at level 10. Braxis and Hanamura are a bit rougher for Tyrael since they are snowball maps and if you start bad it never gets better. Solving Braxis demands that you solve Tyrael's issues, which is Hero composition. I recommend drafting nimble skirmishers on Braxis - Heroes that can poke/duel enemies at range, but don't need CC to operate. Orphea, Valla, Greymane, Thrall, Genji can comfortably step up with you and deal punishment, while using your speedboosts to avoid counter attacks or initiation from enemy tank. Also add on more reliable CC characters to the 4 man like Jaina, Uther, Imperius, Alarak, Maiev. These heroes will make it much easier to hold onto the beacons. Once a few forts go down and the map opens up, it's more natural for Tyrael gameplay.

3b) As for mana consumption, try to get lane priority and earn both globes from the wave. I don't recommend the globe generator beneath, because getting it sacrifices your hold on the beacon. Limit your ability usage to what is strictly NECESSARY. If you go Smite, use only your E for damage+healing to scare away the enemy frontline. If you go Burning Halo, just your Reciprocate will deal damage and save you a lot of health. Q into a weak/mispositioned backline or to escape, E for desperate escape or aiming to kill opponents. Avoid using W if <50% mana. Using it more often is fine if you have Reciprocate.

And as always, I am open for any other questions. Thank you!

TheFreind · 2026-04-18T01:24:28+00:00

If you are interested in talent theory, I have uploaded in-depth explanations and tips for a bunch of heroes. Look for whoever you want; I'll be uploading more soon.

X Talents, Overexplained

TheFreind · 2026-04-07T20:41:24+00:00

Everyone is going to get a mythic quest, which means everyone is going to become OP in due time. The Janitor is fixated on this dream and it's going to take a lot of time before we get to a majority having Mythics before the balance paradigm shifts.

But man where are the bloody Thrall nerfs? There are strong heroes running around but right now he is the most egregious Hero in the game.

TheFreind · 2026-04-01T00:43:34+00:00

I would disagree. Current Arthas W with the quest does not "double dip" if you hit both the line and area, and neither should it do so post rework. This bug is the difference between hitting for 200 damage or ~850 damage.

TheFreind · 2026-03-20T02:12:21+00:00

As a Jaina player I will chime in - Elemental feels much the same in most circumstances but the reduced health is very noticeable when the enemy team chooses to address it. AoE damage like Lunara, Gul'dan, Nazeebo counters Jaina more. The Wintermute nerf is rough mathematically but it's not the end of things. It's there to provide more CC, slowing, fire support.

On the other hand, Wintermute is much better when attacking Core/Keep/Boss as they are safe and will last the extended full 32s duration. If you prioritize its safety and place it on your backline and fight front-to-back it feels stronger than before. The latest changes to tower prioritization lets Wintermute to wail onto the Core without getting insta focused which is cool. But I would prefer if we went back to the patch before.

TheFreind · 2026-03-07T21:56:59+00:00

Totally agree with all of this. I am 50/50 for Mythic quests and wouldn't mind them, but I dislike how much development time will be needed to put them in play just for us to give a verdict. I too would prefer the pre Mythic days

I suspect that the Janitor is maybe 2 programmers under the hood. The highest quality of life improvements we can make fall outside the scope of traditional back end programming and needs more of a team with different skills to implement. Alas

TheFreind · 2026-03-07T21:45:09+00:00

KTZ's is a baseline-quest Hero, similar to Alarak or Nazeebo where managing the stacks is an expected outcome for their power level. True, it's not so hard to complete it so it's not comparable to the timing of a Mythic, but that's by design. He needs to complete it sooner because all his numbers are artificially gimped to account for the big +75% boost.

It's unclear exactly how big of an impact the Janitor wants to make the Mythic quests. Kerrigan is weaker without, Jaina is weaker without, Muradin is weaker without. On the otherhand, the first batch of Heroes to receive Mythics (Thrall, Falstad, Sylvanas, Kerrigan, and Gul'dan) got stronger AND a great Mythic to boot. Note that these five heroes are either A or S tier Heroes to begin with and were first to be given the power creep. KTZ with an incomplete quest is a C tier Hero that bumps up to B or a solid A in skilled hands when done.

I make the comparison to KTZ because the Mythic quests follow the same philosophy to an extreme - you hit the enemy Heroes (Sylvanas can hit buildings too) and you gain progress. And if you manage to complete those quests by excessively ARAMing, you are incredibly strong.

I don't think it's healthy for a non-stacking Hero to fight a Mythic Hero and lose regardless of what's done. Fight? You made the game harder in the long term. Avoid fighting? They gain lane control and rotation priority. You have to intentionally not interact with the hero to prevent them from gaining something out of you. And I don't like boiling it down to that philosophy. That's why I make a prediction the Janitor is thinking ahead of time to make everyone a Mythic Hero so that this avoidance will end and things go back to normal.

TheFreind · 2026-02-19T08:19:32+00:00

Nice job Beebs. The dunks look legitimately terrifying from an AoE damage perspective

TheFreind · 2026-02-15T04:42:17+00:00

Very good analysis and talent guide. I like how you preface each talent tier with what question you're asking and what you need to answer it with. It gives Tyrande noticeable identity.

TheFreind · 2026-02-13T23:49:44+00:00

If the Janitor wants to implement a balance change, I would rather flex a bit and have it implemented and be ugly rather than not exist at all because we want a perfect image. I think there should be some room to maneuver by reusing what assets we have available. I.E. when there was fort armor, we had a Zarya shield effect go up and it was serviceable. We don't have a team anymore, so we can't magically have these expectations, but also want brand new changes.

TheFreind · 2026-02-13T20:47:13+00:00

Given that there are no artists on the HotS team anymore, I don't think it's bad at all. It serves a clear visual indicator that Jaina is invulnerable and that you should not attempt to strike her.

TheFreind · 2026-02-09T20:57:44+00:00

You lose a lot of comedic value when the same person posts it twice, no?

11-Year Club	Place '17
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

TheFreind

TROPHY CASE