My Guide to Lunara

Tags: Video Games

There are a lot of heroes I can play in Heroes of the Storm, but I know none better than Lunara by a large margin. So here I've decided to post my guide on how to play her with an in depth of all her talents, matchups, and how she performs on different maps.

Introduction

Before doing the deep dive into all of her talents I would like to begin by mentioning why I like playing Lunara, and giving an overview of her strengths and weaknesses.

First off, Lunara is a fairly versatile assassin which is important for solo queue qm. Her talents make her able to adapt to many different situations including laning, diving, or racing objectives. This versatility is why I like her so much. She fits into just about any team comp.

Her principle strengths include pretty decent damage over time with her poison. Poison is also a mild weakness though as it gives enemy healers a long time to save their allies (some call it "fake damage" as Lunara's damage stats can be pretty good while getting fairly few kills).

Other strengths include Thornwood vine which is an incredible wave clear and team fight tool. Her default 20% move speed buff also gives her higher than average mobility. And wisp is a solid (often underutilized) scouting tool.

Her weaknesses include a lack of hard crowd control, limited self-sustain, being fairly easy to kill if caught off guard, and being outmatched by more specialized assassins (either in lane, or in targeting down high priority targets).

This guide is now going to go pretty deep into all of Lunara's talents. If you just want some good builds and general advice, I would recommend skipping to the section called "Builds"

Traits

To begin lets look at her traits and how they influence her gameplay. Lunara has two traits. Thats two more than most heroes!

Dryad's Swiftness

Lunara's base movement speed is 120% (20% faster than other heroes), but at the cost of not being able mount for the full 130% mount speed. This means Lunara can run away from other heroes, or catch other heroes easily in many situations. Keep in mind though that there are still many heroes that can run Lunara down quite easily. Illidan comes to mind as he is able to keep up with her through slows and his dash.

Lunara also has a distinctive jumping motion. This can be annoying as I believe there is some hidden jank that prevents her from attacking while jumping. Thus, you must learn how to fit in the attacks between her jumps.

The jump is not all bad though. You can actually perform some very erratic movements with the help of the jump, making it very difficult to land skill shots on you. This is thanks to the fact that the jump is actually moving you between 50% and 190% move speed across the whole animation. If you are not bumbling around like a drunkard you probably aren't playing Lunara correctly.

I find the inability to mount for that extra 10% move speed to be an almost non-existent inconvenience.

Nature's Toxin

Lunara's basic attacks and abilities inflict nature's toxin on all enemies (including structures) she attacks. It deals damage over time for 3 seconds, and stacks up to 3 times. This means you can get a total of 9 seconds of poison on someone. Nature's toxin will not be applied from basic attacks if they miss.

To get an idea of how much damage nature's toxin deals, level 1 Lunara's basic attack deals 90 damage (pretty middle of the road when factoring in attack speed). The three seconds of toxin the basic attack applies will deal a total of 99 damage.

What this means is that if Lunara is able to spread her basic attacks over multiple enemies she has one of the best untalented basic attacks in the whole game in terms of pure dps. Unfortunately this is damage over time spread over multiple enemies which leads to the ultimate weakness of not being able to focus down individual heroes without additional talents.

What you need to remember about this trait is that it does indeed give Lunara higher than average damage, but having that damage applied over 9 seconds is a nerf that should not be underestimated. Also once a hero gets to 3 stacks, you start losing out on damage if you continue attacking them as no additional stacks can be applied. We will see in the talent analysis, one of the most powerful uses for nature's toxin is against the non-hero entities in the game.

Level 1

I find Lunara's level 1 talents to be fairly inconsequential. You can pick any of them and still be successful.

Sentinel Wisp

This is the best talent at this level. With this talent you can park the wisp in a bush, and much more effectively see incoming ganks. It also reveals cloaked heroes. A must-have in games against Zeratul, Valeera, or Nova.

Natural Perspective

Take this one in ARAM, the wisp will just die in ARAM. In normal gameplay this usually serves little purpose other than giving you the ability to see enemy heroes slowly die to your poison (which is undoubtedly gratifying.

Hippity Hop

The worst of these three talents, you really don't need the move speed.

Level 4

Blossom Swell

Not a bad talent. It just that Nature's Culling is so much better. The extra stack of nature's toxin doesn't matter that much as other talents help you spread nature's toxin as well. Get good so you don't need the bigger hit box.

Nature's Culling

Arguably Lunara's most important talent. 125% nature's toxin damage to non heroes is crazy. You are now a beastly laner, and you can also help kill bosses and objectives a lot better. Part of the reason this talent is so good is that buildings can't heal. So you pop off 3 stacks of nature's toxin on a building, and it will take every bit of that damage permanently. The weaknesses of nature's toxin do not apply to buildings, minions, or objectives.

Have I made this clear? Go for this talent in 99% of your games. This is a defining talent for Lunara.

Siphoning Toxin

Only go for this talent if all the following conditions are satisfied:

The healing isn't that great, but it gives you just a little bit more sustain for team fights.

Level 7

Splintered Spear

I ran this talent for a long time. If you go for this talent you will do okay. It allows you to spread your poison to a ton of enemies. Which is what you want to do as Lunara. I will explain why choking pollen is better though.

Choking Pollen

This is my preferred talent at this tier. It gives Lunara some important burst damage she doesn't normally have. If you go thornwood vine at level ten you will have no problems spreading your poison (hence you don't need splintered spear), thus the burst damage has more utility. If you go leaping strike at level 10, you are looking to burst down important targets, and thus the extra burst damage is more useful there as well.

Wild Vigor

It looks good on paper, and can be fun if you want to change things up and go for a basic attack build. But definitely not optimal. The upfront burst damage of choking pollen will secure more kills.

Level 10

Thornwood Vine

Along with nature's culling, this is a must-have talent in most games. It will allow you to spread nature's toxin effectively in team fights, and clear waves with a single ability. Probably take this in 80-90% of your games.

Leaping Strike

There are two main utilities for this talent.

  1. Escaping dangerous enemies (particularly those that can dive or reposition you)
  2. Focusing down important targets.

If you're in a game that really needs one of these attributes feel free to take this talent. Beware though that this talent is not for games with 4-5 ranged assassins. They will poke you to death before you can kill them. It is better to get the extra poke from thornwood vine.

Leaping strike also makes you unstoppable. Use if before Butcher hits you with his charge and you won't be stunned.

Level 13

Endless Spores

I find this talent to usually be the best. It allows you to keep your poison on enemy heroes for a surprisingly long time. Which is essential to the effectiveness of the level 16 crippling spores buff.

Let Them Wither

I find the extended poison from endless spores to be better for keeping the enemy team at low health all the time. Plus you will be slowing heroes more often with endless spores, so the slow buff here isn't as big of an improvement over endless spores as you might think.

Greater Spell Shield

This might save you from a few big spells. But in reality you should just not get hit by them. This ability does not significantly improve your ability to stay in a fight for longer.

Abolish Magic

This is one of Lunara's underappreciated talents. If you are going for the burst damage build I would highly recommend this talent as none of the other talents at this tier help Lunara burst people down very well (slows are largely irrelevant as she already has increased move speed). Its on a fairly short cooldown and gives Lunara a surprise support role people aren't expecting.

Level 16

Accelerated Contamination

This is good if you're going for a noxious bloom build, unfortunately noxious bloom just isn't as effective as Lunara's other build paths.

Star Wood Spear

Don't choose this. The extra range isn't worth the opportunity cost of the other talents at this tier.

Invigorating Spores

A less than optimal choice. Unfair advantage is usually better. But if you are going for the less optimal basic attack build, or your team desperately needs a little extra damage to race objectives like Battlefield of Eternity this can fit the bill. Note that the percent damage is not that great.

Unfair Advantage

This is Lunara's final signature talent, you should be taking this in 90% of your games. When combined with endless spores at level 13, and a few slows from your team as well, this makes your poison deal 60% more damage to heroes. This is a huge damage buff for Lunara. Even in the burst down build you pop this off and your poison starts to help a lot.

Level 20

Forest's Wrath

This ability is super powerful. The extra vine range, and double stacks of nature's toxin make thornwood vine and incredible poke tool. You apply a lot of damage over time ensuring the enemy team is always at low health. The damage output of this is similar to late game Azmodan dunks.

This ability also has a secret buff seen nowhere else in the game. Lunara's vision radius is increased by 35%. This is the secret noone wants you to know. You literally see the enemy team before they can see you. They cannot sneak up on you anymore as you will always see it coming.

Boundless Stride

If you didn't go thornwood vine pick this. You are now more jumpy. And can use it to escape. Use leaping strike liberally.

Intensifying Toxin

Not as good as it appears. The extra damage is only while the enemy is at three stacks. As opposed to the unfair advantage at level 16 which is whenever they are slowed. The enemy will be slowed far more often than they are at 3 stacks of toxin.

Galloping Gait

Don't go for this.

Builds

Alright, now that we've made it through all the talents, let me condense all of that information down to a couple useful builds along with some important information on how to actually play Lunara.

Across all these builds remember that you are a jumpy boi. Use the jump to move erratically making it hard for heroes to land abilities on you.

Nature's Toxin Build

Build Code: [T1221141,Lunara]

In my opinion this is the best Lunara build. You can make it work in almost any situation. It excels at clearing lanes, and applying poison to the entire enemy team.

Nature's Culling at level 4 makes you a very effective laner.

You may be tempted to go for splintered spear at level 7, but you will get all the poison spread you need at level 10. Instead, choose choking pollen. Without it, this build has a major weakness of no burst damage. Hit an individual hero once with basic attack, then with choking pollen. They take a ton of damage very quickly, and then with crippling spores you get them up to 3 stacks of poison. Don't be afraid to utilize choking pollen on forts, objectives and camps as well. It is a great source of damage as long as you are only using it on enemies with nature's toxin.

After level 10 you can continue to lane, but I find a very powerful strat is to use thornwood vine to quickly clear a couple minion waves in a lane, and then go help with the team fight. You can provide decent lane pressure while still being with your team for key moments in the match.

At level 13 you get endless spores. What you want to do for the rest of the match (in between lane clearing) is to inflict natures toxin on as many heroes as possible. Usually 1-2 uses of thornwood vine, and a couple attacks if you can, then once the entire enemy team is infected, use crippling spores. With the cooldown reduction you can poison the entire enemy team for 12 seconds or more. With unfair advantage at level 16 this poison will start to deal a lot of damage. Then with the extended thornwood vine at level 20, you have incredible poke distance with an ability that applies 2 stacks of nature's toxin.

It all about spreading that toxin to keep the entire enemy team at low health, and then using choking pollen to finish off individual targets.

Burst Damage Build

Build Code: [T1222442,Lunara]

I will say this build is generally inferior to the nature's toxin build, but it still occupies an important place in Lunara's play style. Most importantly it allows her to dodge and get away from dive heavy team comps. Secondly it allows her to more effectively focus down individual heroes. Leaping strike deals more single target damage than thornwood vine, and give Lunara a little extra mobility to chase down heroes.

Don't forget to use abolish magic, you will be surprised at how many allies you can save with this ability.

The general idea is to attack a hero, use leaping strike on them twice (don't worry if the first jump puts you in the middle of the enemy team, you can usually use the second jump before they are able to stun or kill you), and then hit them with choking pollen. This will eliminate most of the health of a hero.

I find this build particularly effective against heroes like Butcher and Gengi. Do not go this build if the entirety of the enemy team is squishy. If they are all ranged assassins they will poke you to death before you get close enough to use leaping strike. Or they will finish you off once you complete your combo.

There are a few variations of this build you can go if you like.

At level 4 you may go for siphoning toxin if you don't have a healer, and your team doesn't need extra PvE damage (particularly against bosses and boss-like objectives).

At level 7 you may go splintered spear if you still need some PvE damage. The waveclear isn't as good as thornwood vine, but it is still way better than what this build currently provides. Make sure to pair this with nature's culling at level 4, and only take this if your reason for going leaping strike is for the escape rather than focusing down a specific hero.

You may be tempted to go intensifying toxin at level 20, but the damage output from the reduced cooldown with boundless strike is much better.

Basic Attack Build

Build Code: [T1232433,Lunara]

I don't recommend this build, but it exists. By focusing on basic attacks you likely aren't focusing on nature's toxin which is where a lot of Lunara's power comes from. But if you are looking for something different, or really want to just spear a lot of crap, here you go.

You can go siphoning toxin at level 4 if you don't have any healer. You can also go boundless strides at level 20 if you want. But other that you probably don't want to mix up the other abilities.

Matchups

Here I just wanted to note a few of the heroes that have special interactions with Lunara.

Of course there are probably a few match ups I'm missing, but in general, Lunara is a squishy hero that can easily be burst down if caught off guard. Any heroes that have utilities to keep up with her 20% moves speed bonus are also pretty good.

Summary

To conclude this article I would like to emphasize how versatile Lunara is. Not very many heroes have 3 (at least partially feasible) builds to choose from. This makes here a dynamic hero able to adapt to many situation. I personally recommend nature's toxin build in most scenarios. I also recommend being erratic in your movements, and making sure not to hit entities already at 3 stacks of natures toxin.

I hope this guide was informative, and that you also find joy in playing Lunara as well.