RAYNOR: Not Just a Tutorial Character

Hello fellow Geeks! This week, I’ll be looking at an Assassin that has been resurfacing as of late; Jim Raynor. Raynor, lovingly called Jimmy by some fans, is a ranged-assassin from the Starcraft Universe based around Auto-Attacks and area control. He is very suitable for newer players since one of his skills (Adrenaline Rush) is a heal that passively activates when you get low, saving you when other character would’ve perished.

This survivability-oriented design gets continued with his Q called Penetrating Round (Deals 525 (107 + 22 per level) damage and knocks enemies back.) that serves as a self-peeling spell early game (getting people you don’t want close to you away) and turns into a damage / hard-cc spell as the late game arrives. His abilities get rounded off by an activatable attack-speed buff called Inspire that not only improves his teamfighting, but also doubles as a pushing spell since it also applies to neutrals. The final piece in the auto-attack-puzzle is his passive that increases both his auto-attack- and vision-range.

His heroic choices are what really define his play-style. Hyperion represents his strong pushing-power and augments that with a slowly forward-moving, damaging AOE. Even though it serves as an excellent zoning tool, it’s best used against structures since it deals extra damage to those. Raynors Raiders on the other hand summons two stealthed Banshees that start bombarding a single target with missiles for their duration or until they’re destroyed. They solidify Jimmy as a devastating single-target assassin and give him a surprising amount of chase since the banshees hunt their target even over walls and behind structures.

Instead of providing you with a step-by-step guide I’d instead like to highlight a few talents and how they work for Raynor in different roles as well as with the other heroes on the weekly roster.

If you are looking to run a full-on player-killer build, there are of course the generic talents Seasoned Marksman (For every 6 enemy Minion or captured Mercenary kills near your Hero, gain 1 Basic Attack damage. Hero Takedowns count as 3 Minion kills [Level 1]), Focused Attack (Every 10 seconds, your next Basic Attack against an Hero deals 75% additional damage. Basic Attacks reduce this cooldown by 1 second [Level 4]) and Giant Killer (Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the Hero’s maximum Health [Level 13].).

Raynor has some interesting additions to an auto-attack oriented playstyle other than “just damage”. Revolution Overdrive gives you 5% movement-speed for each ally hero that you inspire. You always hear about stutter-stepping, but most of the time it’s hard to pull off because you’re either getting bounced around by an enemy warrior or your target just vaulted away. With the help of this talent, your allies will provide you with that additional movespeed needed to reposition during a fight to get away from that warrior or closer to the enemy assassin.

If you’d rather like to go for a spell-based build, you can do that as well. If you combine Confident Aim (Lowers the CD of Penetrating Round by 4 Sec if it hits an enemy hero [Level 4]) and Double Barrelled (You gain a second charge of Penetrating Round [Level 13]), you can dish out 3 charges in a short time.. Combine this with either Cluster Round (Penetrating Round damage is increased by 20% for each additional target hit up to 100%, and the width is increased by 50%[Level 16]) for massive damage or Bullseye (The first enemy hit by Penetrating Round is stunned for 1.5 seconds. [Level 16]) for excellent single-target CC.

If you don’t get to dish out your damage because you keep dying, there is an alternative build with just raw survivability. Combine Give me more (Increases Adrenaline Rush healing by 50% [Level 1]) with Fight or Flight (Whenever Adrenaline Rush activates it also grants Resistant, reducing damage taken by 25% for 4 seconds. Adrenaline Rush can also be manually activated [Level 7]) to gain a massive heal including resistance on a fairly short cooldown. Add Relentless Leader (Reduces the duration of silences, stuns, slows, and roots against you by 50%. Once every 5 seconds, if you are stunned you knock nearby enemies away [Level 13]) into the mix to turn into an immortal Juggernaut.

As a more gimmicky last choice (that should probably be tried out in Quick Match) I’d like to present you Merc-Lord Raynor. Utilize Raynor’s Recruitment to get Mercs as fast as possible. After you pick up Puttin’ on a clinic (Whenever an enemy Minion, Hero, or captured Mercenary you have recently damaged is destroyed, your Ability cooldowns are reduced by 1.5 seconds [Level 13]), you will be able to constantly spam your inspire, shredding every building that dares stand in your way.

In this week’s rotation, Raynor will be accompanied by the following heroes:

Muradin
Tyrael
Thrall
Tyrande
Gazlowe (Level 12)
Kharazim (Level 15)

All of these heroes greatly compliment Raynor and his different playstyles. One of Raynor’s biggest issues is sometimes not being able to shoot the enemy enough until they fall over. Luckily for you, every hero on rotation this week has a way to either help you keep up with your enemies (like Kharazim’s Breath of Heaven, Tyrael’s Smite and El-Druins Might) or lock them down for you to do your work (Thralls Feral Spirit or Tyrande’s Lunar Flare for example). Tyrande is an especially good ally since she boosts your damage further with Hunters Mark (Make an enemy vulnerable, increasing all damage taken by 25% and revealing them for 4 seconds) and the fact that her Starfall (Deal 140 (26 + 6 per level) damage per second and slow enemies by 20% in an area. Lasts 8 seconds) in combination with Hyperion can create an absolute deadly area of destruction for the enemy team.

Full Skillbuilds

DISCLAIMER: Adjusting builds according to who you are facing in a game is the mark of high skill. These are simply recommendations, not definite builds you should always use.

AUTOATTACK

Level 1: Seasoned Marksman
Level 4: Focused Attack
Level 7: Revolution Overdrive
Heroic: Raynor’s Raiders
Level 13: Giant Killer
Level 16: Bullseye
Level 20: Nexus Frenzy

PENETRATING SHOT

Level 1: Give me more!
Level 4: Confident Aim
Level 7: Hamstring Shot
Heroic: Hyperion
Level 13: Double-Barreled
Level 16: Bullseye / Cluster Round
Heroic: Nexus Frenzy

IMMORTAL TITAN

Level 1: Give me more!
Level 4: Focused Attack
Level 7: Fight or Flight
Level 10: Hyperion
Level 13: Relentless Leader
Level 16: Berserk
Level 20: Nexus Frenzy

BONUS: MERC-LORD RAYNOR

Level 1: Raiders’ “Recruitment”
Level 4: Focused Attack
Level 7: Puttin’ on a clinic
Level 10: Hyperion
Level 13: Relentless Leader
Level 16: Berserk
Level 20: A card to play