Heroes of the Storm news » Fenix Tips from YoDa

Legendary Protoss soldier Fenix has resurrected once again in his Dragoon form, this time as a ranged assassin and the newest Hero to enter the Nexus. We spoke to Team Freedom’s flex player Orie “YoDa” Guo to get an idea of how to best give your life for Aiur on the battlefield.

YoDa sees Fenix as a highly adaptable auto-attack focused ranged damage-dealer who can work with many different team compositions. He suggests two different builds for the hero, each focused around one of the two auto-attack modes the Assassin can switch between—the short-ranged, rapid-fire Repeater Cannon, and the longer-ranged Phase Bomb, which deals splash damage to everything in the immediate vicinity of its target.

Option 1: Poke from a Safe Distance

YoDa’s preferred build, and the one that he thinks is generally safer and more effective in most situations, focuses on talent picks that eke out of the most possible damage from Fenix’s Phase Bomb.

“This build relies on the increased range and area-of-effect from Phase Bomb to output sustained damage and poke from afar,” YoDa says. “When using this build, all you really have to worry about is staying safe and out of range from the enemy engage while lobbing out damage.”

While it might seem counterintuitive for such a “safe” build to not take Fenix’s early Weapon Modes upgrades at levels 1 and 4 and then Divert Power: Weapons at level 7, which allows you to exchange all of Fenix’s shield energy for extra damage, YoDa says that his early talent picks end up synergizing with his higher-level talents to boost Fenix’s mobility and shielding, and thus his ability to survive in fights.

At first glance this may seem like a risky build since it relies on Divert Power: Weapons, which removes all the shields, as a DPS boost, but keep in mind that due to the synergy with Emergency Protocol [which increases Fenix’s move speed when his shields are depleted] you will be moving very quickly in the backline,” YoDa says. And once you take Auxiliary Shields at level 13, Fenix will begin regenerating his shield with every one of his Phase Bomb attacks.

“Look to follow up on kills—even across the map—from a safe distance, either with Planet Cracker or Divert Power: Weapons,” YoDa says, referring to Fenix’s global Heroic ability that shoots a gigantic death ray across the entire map for four seconds. “But also keep in mind that your role is as a sustained damage dealer and wave clearer; you should never risk your own life just for a kill since your team will likely lose the fight 4-v-4 without you.”

“You can also occasionally use Divert Power: Weapons as a poking tool,” YoDa says, “but keep in mind that it does drain all your shields, so you are a bit vulnerable to long range engages like Diablo's Shadow Charge. Outside of that, your biggest danger is a squishy assassin trying to duel you with a flank or following your Warp [Fenix’s mid-range teleportation ability] with something like Zeratul's Vorpal Blade or Tracer's blink.”

“Your best defense against this is Repeater Cannon combined with [level 13 Talent] Auxillary Shields in a pinch, as well as relying on your team to peel.”

YoDa says that Fenix’s poke build pairs well with Warrior and Support teammates with strong forms of crowd-control (CC) that can fix enemies in place so they receive the most possible damage from his Phase Bomb and Planet Cracker. An ability like Leoric’s Entomb, for example, can force many an enemy Hero to suffer through all four seconds of Fenix’s deadly beam.

---

Option 2: Warp Speed

For a riskier but potentially deadlier build, YoDa recommends an alternative approach that centers around the level 4 Talent Warp Conduit, which resets his Warp ability every time an enemy hero is killed. This makes Fenix similar in some ways to Li-Ming, who resets all of her abilities with successful takedowns, the main difference being that Fenix relies on his basic attacks for the majority of his damage, while Li-Ming leans more heavily on her abilities.

“This build relies on your team to create an opening at the start of the fight, then using Repeater Cannon and the Warp talents to Warp in for chain resets,” YoDa says. “However, it gives up a lot of his better sustained damage talents and involves warping in and trying to close kills, so it comes with a lot of risk. If you do manage to close the kills, it has extremely high damage output and carry potential.”

“When using this build you should look to use one Plasma Cutter at the start of each fight to set up your Purification Salvo, and after that keep track of enemy cooldowns, particularly CC and heals, and look to Warp in and use Plasma Cutter and your Repeater Cannon in a 1-v.-1 while you have buffs from Warp Warfare and Adanium Shell,” YoDa says. Nailing this combo can cause a powerful chain reaction.

“If you succeed, you can then Warp from target to target, getting kills using the Warp Conduit talent,” YoDa says. “If you fail, you’ll probably be dead.”

YoDa says that Fenix’s reset build is complemented by strong kill-closing heroes who can deal a lot of burst damage to help guarantee takedowns, and thus trigger his chain of Warp kills. Abilities like Malthael’s Heroic Last Rites, for example, create the potential for devastating wombos.

Fenix has only just come back to life in the Nexus, so you should play around with his Talents to see what build suits your playstyle best. Let us know how you plan to play as the Steward of the Templar, and we’ll see you on the Battlefield!