
“ | The Dark Lady watches over you.
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Sylvanas is a Ranged Specialist Hero from the Warcraft universe.
She has a stoic, but arrogant personality.[1] As Ranger-General of Silvermoon, Sylvanas is a leader of her people and a powerful force for good against the undead scourge that seek to overthrow the elven race. Her deadly accuracy is legend across Azeroth.[2]
Background[]
In death, Sylvanas still considers herself one of the foremost protectors of Quel'Thalas, and repeatedly offers assistance in the form of supplies and troops to the blood elves. This may be due in some part to the fact that the Dark Lady still grieves over her failure to protect Quel'Thalas from the Scourge invasion during the Third War, when she fell in battle.[3]
Gameplay Summary[]
Sylvanas a Specialist with powerful sustained damage, waveclear and mobility, featuring very balanced attributes. She is unique as her trait, Black Arrows, allows her to shutdown enemy minions and structures, essentially stunning them permanently as long Sylvanas hits them with Basic Attacks or Abilities.
Overall, Sylvanas fits into most team compositions due her very potent kit capable to destroying structures by herself if left alone, all while being capable of handling quite well in teamfights. Her versatile mobility also makes her quite difficult to take down.
Strengths[]
- Very high sustained damage for a Specialist Hero, rivaling or surpassing even some Assassins.
- Formidable solo laner.
- One of the strongest waveclears in the game.
- Can easily solo Mercenary Camps.
- Considerably low mana issues.
- Black Arrows allows her to stun all enemy Minions, Mercenaries and Structures save for Bosses and Cores.
- Withering Fire is an auto-target ability that provides very high burst and is great at pressuring opponents as Sylvanas can use it while moving, and can be used with Basic Attacks without cancelling them.
- It is also absurdly potent during teamfights that happen in lanes, as it'll recharge with each Minion killed.
- Shadow Dagger is a very potent tool for spreading Black Arrow and shutting down as many Minions as possible.
- Haunting Wave is a very versatile escape tool due its range.
- It is also very useful for chasing down opponents.
- Wailing Arrow covers large radius and can shutdown the entire enemy team if properly timed.
- Mind Control is a versatile Heroic Ability that can be used either to take down key-targets or to push away dangerous threat.
Weaknesses[]
- Very low healthpool.
- Extremely bad in bursting heroes.
- Struggles against heroes who can catch up to her Haunting Wave (such as Illidan).
- Bad duelist.
- Besides Haunting Wave, she has almost no solutions to break stealth.
- Hard to master.
- Weak against burst assassins (like Nova).
- Considerable weak in the early game.
- Poor teamfight power after using her Heroic Abilities.
- Susceptible to stuns and silences, which prevents her from escaping with Haunting Wave.
- Can struggle when fighting for lane domination against other Specialists (i.e. Zagara).
- Withering Fire offers poor targeted damage as it can often hit enemy minions instead of Heroes.
- Haunting Wave has a small delay, which requires proper timing.
- Mind Control leaves Sylvanas completely vulnerable and open to retaliation.
Abilities[]
Sylvanas specializes in DPS and siege damage.[4]

Cooldown: 2 seconds
Charge Shoot the closest enemy for 48 (+4% per level) damage, preferring Heroes. Stores 5 charges. Gain 1 charge on nearby enemy Minion or Mercenary deaths, and 3 charges on nearby enemy Hero deaths.

Mana: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Deals 39 (+4% per level) damage and an additional 154 (+4% per level) damage over 2 seconds to target unit. The effect spreads to nearby targets.

Mana: 75
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Send forth a wave of banshees dealing 119 (+4% per level) damage to all targets. Reactivate to teleport to the banshees' location.
Traits[]

Basic Attacks and Abilities Stun Minions and Mercenaries for 1 second, and Basic Attacks disable Structures for 1 second.
Heroic Abilities[]

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 100
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Shoot an arrow that can be reactivated to deal 238 (+4% per level) damage and silence enemies in an area making them unable to use Abilities for 2.5 seconds. The arrow detonates automatically if it reaches maximum range.

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 60 seconds
After channeling for 1 second, gain control of an enemy Hero’s movement for 2.5 seconds.
Talents[]
Tier 1, Hero Level 1[]

Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
Releases a free Withering Fire shot whenever a nearby enemy Minion dies. The free shot can only hit non-Heroic targets.

Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
Haunting Wave now disables Minions and Mercenaries for 7 seconds. Restores 5 Mana per minion hit by Haunting Wave.
Tier 2, Hero Level 4[]

Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Reduces the cooldown of Shadow Dagger by 1.0 second for each enemy Hero hit.

Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Gain an additional charge of Withering Fire, and charges fire 33% faster.
Tier 3, Hero Level 7[]

Tier 3 (Hero Level 7)
Minions that die under the effects of Black Arrows explode, dealing 121 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies. Does not damage Heroes or Structures.
Tier 4, Hero Level 10[]

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 100
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Shoot an arrow that can be reactivated to deal 238 (+4% per level) damage and silence enemies in an area making them unable to use Abilities for 2.5 seconds. The arrow detonates automatically if it reaches maximum range.

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 60 seconds
After channeling for 1 second, gain control of an enemy Hero’s movement for 2.5 seconds.
Tier 5, Hero Level 13[]

Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Shadow Dagger heals you for 39 (+4% per level) each time it spreads to an enemy.

Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Cooldown: 0.5 seconds
Teleporting with Haunting Wave fully recharges your Withering Fire. Haunting Wave can be cast a second time for free within 5 seconds after teleporting.

Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Activate to become Unstoppable and gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds.

Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Cooldown: 0.5 seconds
Every 30 seconds, gain 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy Ability and subsequent Abilities for 1.5 seconds, reducing the damage taken by 50%.
Can be toggled to allow or prevent this talent from triggering automatically.
Tier 6, Hero Level 16[]

Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
You gain 10% Movement Speed for 2 seconds whenever an enemy is hit with Withering Fire, stacking up to 30%.

Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
Shadow Dagger lowers the Armor of the initial enemy by 25 for 2 seconds, causing them to take 25% more damage.

Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
After using an ability, your next Basic Attack within 3 seconds deals 40% additional damage.

Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
Black Arrows now also applies to Heroes, slowing their Movement Speed by 6% for the duration. Stacks up to 5 times.
Tier 7, Hero Level 20[]

Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Enemies at the center of Wailing Arrow's explosion take 50% more damage and are silenced for twice as long.

Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Mind Controlled enemies gain 100% Movement Speed for the duration.

Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Every 5 seconds, your next basic attack will deal an additional 94.64 (+4% per level) damage to the target, and 237.12 (+4% per level) damage to all nearby Minions and Mercenaries.

Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Cooldown: 70 seconds
Activate to teleport to a nearby location.
Talent Builds[]
- Balanced Build: focused on providing Sylvanas with a healthy blend of damage, utility and mobility. This build allows Sylvanas to maximize her effectiveness in teamfights while still further improving her waveclear and sieging.
- If the map features a lot of strong Mercenaries (such as the ones in Braxis Holdout and Volskaya Foundry), taking Mercenary Queen at level 1 can greatly improve Sylvanas pushing power in the late game.
- If the enemy team features a very dangerous Assassin or powerful Support, Mind Control can be more useful instead to quickly eliminate those key targets.
Tips[]
- Withering Fire cost no mana, and their stacks refresh quickly, specially when waveclearing. Use them freely to speed up the laning phase.
- Try hitting Shadow Dagger at a target that will more likely spread Black Arrows to as many enemies and structures possible.
- Do not use Haunting Wave for waveclear; it should be used solely as a escape tool, or in other scenarios, to secure a takedown by chasing opponents.
- Do not use Wailing Arrow preemptively; save it for when opponents are more likely to unleash powerful cooldowns to maximize the shutdown. It is great for interrupting channeled abilities.
- Positioning is key when using Mind Control, as Sylvanas will be left vulnerable for 2.5 seconds.
- When controlling an enemy Hero, try putting them at a favorable location for the allied team to take them down.
- While Sylvanas is a formidable solo laner due her ability to shutdown Structures, she becomes even more powerful with another Hero with high siege damage (i.e. Azmodan, Probius).
Matchups[]
Pairings[]
While Sylvanas pairs well with the majority of the cast, she truly shines when fighting alongside high-burst Assassins that complement her damage. In addition, having other split-pushers is a great way to create additional map pressure.
Effective against[]
Effective foes[]
Sylvanas is at her best when being able to quietly push the lanes by disabling structures. Because of that, lane bullies that can constantly harass and dive can make her life a living nightmare, specially those that have mobility on par with her. In addition, stealth Heroes can also catch her by surprise while she is split-pushing.
Skins[]
- The Banshee Queen (base)
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The Banshee Queen | Frost | Scarlet |
- Ranger-General Sylvanas
100
- The Ranger-Generals are the commanders of the Farstriders of Quel'Thalas. It is their solemn duty to ensure the protection of Silvermoon, or give their lives in its defense.
- Features altered voice-over.
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Ranger-General | Woodland | Ghostlands | Sin'dorei |
- Warchief
100
- Sylvanas never wanted to be warchief, and was never fond of Vol'jin. Nevertheless, she has sworn to avenge the fallen shadow hunter and lead their people to victory against the Legion
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Warchief | Cold | Crimson |
- Dark Lady
100
- The guise of a Dark Ranger strikes fear into the hearts of their enemies. The guise of the Dark Ranger Queen will send them running for reinforcements...
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Dark Lady | Plagued | San'layn |
- Raven
400
- Those who fight against evil are often the most affected by it. The Rogues of Khanduras learned this well when their former sister Sylvanas fell in league with the maiden of Anguish, Andariel.
- This skin is related to the Diablo themed-skins.
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Blood | Skeletal | Banshee | Jungle |
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Wild |
- Sugar Plum
1600
- Sugar and spice? Maybe. Everything nice? Not by a long shot.
- This skin is related to the Winter Veil themed-skins. Features themed abilities.
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Sugar Plum | Snow | Sour | Sweet ![]() |
- Lunar
600
- Much has changed for Quel'Thalas over the centuries, but the Windrunner family has never stopped honoring their elders during the Lunar Festival.
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Lunar | Jade | Soaring |
Development[]

Sylvanas's "good" (left) and "evil" (right) forms
Sylvanas was conceived within the first two years of the game's development.[5] She appeared as a hero in early builds. She had powerful ranged attacks and was deadly, easy to kill. She benefited from dexterity items.[2] She was a powerful mid to late game hero.[1]
As with the rest of the characters at the time, Sylvanas had a "good" and "evil" form—in her case, corresponding to her living and undead forms respectively.[1]
Her abilities and stats were as follows:
- Stats
- Life: 1
- Attack: 5.25
- Abilities: 6
- Speed: 3.75
- Abilities
- Trueshot Aura
- Wild Arrow
- Frost Arrow
- Silence
- Freezing Trap
- Multishot[2]
Sylvanas has proven difficult to balance in regards to battleground design, given her ability to disable towers.[6]
Trivia[]
- The description for Sylvanas' "Sugar Plum" skin (Sugar and spice? Maybe. Everything nice? Not by a long shot.) is a reference to the Powerpuff Girls speech made by the narrator in the original 1998 series' opening.
Patch changes[]
(Patch April 24, 2018) Note: Fixed an issue causing Lunar Sylvanas to play an incorrect animation on the Most Played screen.
(Patch February 6, 2018) Note: Lunar skins added.
(Patch January 24, 2018) Note: Base Maximum Health reduced from 1456 to 1425; Health Regen reduced from 3.04 to 2.97.
(Patch June 13, 2017) Note: Raven skins added.
(Patch December 14, 2016) Note: Sylvanas’ prices reduced to $8.49 USD and 7,000 Gold.
(Patch May 17, 2016) Note: The back of Ranger-General Sylvanas’ leaf earring now appears more leaf-like.
(Patch March 29, 2016) Note: Basic Attack damage increased from 74 (+4% per level) to 85 (+4% per level).
(Patch January 12, 2016) Note: Sugar Plum Sylvanas temporarily removed for the season.
(Patch December 15, 2015) Note: Sugar Plum Sylvanas added.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 StarCraft Legacy staff. 2010-10-24. BlizzCon 2010 StarCraft II Art Panel. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2010-10-26.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 StarCraft Legacy staff. 2010-10-22. BlizzCon 2010 StarCraft II Custom Maps and Editor Panel. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2010-10-23.
- ↑ From WoWWiki
- ↑ 2015-03-06, Pax East 2015 : Sylvanas, Tomb of the Spider Queen and UI updates. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2015-03-18
- ↑ 2016-11-21, BlizzCon 2016 Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive Panel Transcript. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2016-11-21
- ↑ 2016-10-15, Heroes of The Storm Dev Discusses Cho'Gall Balance, Hero Design, And More!. The Escapist, accessed on 2016-10-15