Sylvanas talents

LEVEL 1
>With the Wind
Highly underrated, in any other group it'd be shit, but Level 1 is very weak overall for Sylvanas. It gives you better chase, and will secure the odd kill where your Q spam was out of range. Pick it up if the enemy team has fast heroes or good escape.

>Lost Soul
Pretty useless in the earlygame, but really shines in the endgame IF you also take Overwhelming Affliction from the level 13 tree and intend to play an active sort of pusher who bounces between lanes and obliterates creep waves with one ability, which Sylvanas does very, very well.

>Barbed Shot
Also decent, mainly for a pusher Sylvanas. It shines in the early and midgame where you can't just remove entire lanes with one W, and will win the initial laning phase for you even if you solo. I always take it on spider queen since it's such a pve focused map.

>Corruption
I'm not a big fan. It can be useful for very early pushing, since you can shut down both towers by alternating your attack and burn the ammo so you don't have to do it for too long, but on the other hand, that would be extremely easy for the opponent to shut down. I've only ever taken it once, and only because I want to try every talent.

LEVEL 4
>Paralysis
Not a fan of this either. It can be a decent crutch while you learn to alternate fire to keep two targets stunlocked, since it gives room for error, and for very early laning when you can't obliterate waves yet, but once you've got that down and the game moves into midgame, it's almost useless. Only real use beyond that is the ability to stunlock 3/4 enemies while taking bruiser camps, and you should be able to solo those just fine by level 10 anyway.

>Overflowing Quiver
Probably Sylvanas worst talent. In theory, it'd be kind of useful for a strat where you push waves while at 5 arrows and just use the overflowing ones to kill creep, so that you always have a full quiver if you're attacked, but since arrows are so plenty and easy to regain it doesn't really apply. Never pick this up unless you've come up with some next level shit nobody else has thought of.

>Ranger's Ambush
Excellent talent. It gives you way more pressure while pushing, allows you to secure MANY kills that would otherwise be lost, allows you to take bruiser camps alone at a way earlier level, gives you more damage in teamfights (especially combined with Splinter Shot) and can even make escaping easier since you can apply more pressure to the chaser without stopping. I almost always take this one.

>Envenom
Would be the talent of choice of this tier if it wasn't for Ranger's Ambush. It's alright, but I rarely find myself in a position where I need to secure a kill that I can't grab with Ranger's Ambush, and it doesn't really have any synergy with any of your other talents.

LEVEL 7
>Unstable Poison
Very good pickup, this is what allows you to completely remove creep waves of any size, and any hero dumb enough to stay in the explosion. At high level, a simple W cast will set off a chain reaction powerful enough to clear just about anything.

>Life Drain
Not completely useless, allows you to heal up by just finding a creep wave, but it competes with some seriously useful shit in this tier, which reduces its value. If the enemy comp forces you back to the base a lot and you have a dedicated pusher as well as lots of damage already, it might be good.

>Follow Through
While useless on almost any other hero, Sylvanas Q makes this insane. It's a difficult talent to use though, because you need to get the rhythm of your attack speed down so that you always Withering Fire > basic attack > Withering Fire and so on, to get a permanent +25% damage buff. I ususally take this or Unstable Poison depending on how my team is set up.

>Mercenary Lord
Just as shit as it is on every other hero with this talent, especially in a tier this strong. Never even bothered taking it for testing.

>Shade Form
In most games, it's not very good, but it can be a pickup if you find that your team is completely incompetent and that you have to do a lot of risky shit yourself to stay in the game, such as sniping enemy merc camps, diving and so on. Combined with Windrunner, it makes you very difficult to catch.

LEVEL 10
>Wailing Arrow
One of the best ults in the game. It does crazy damage, it silences most of the enemy team at the start of every teamfight, it secures important kills. It's really good. Grab it in every game you care about winning.

>Possession
Very undertuned. Interesting in theory, but not very useful in practice. It just takes too long to convert enough enemy creeps to make it worthwhile, and they're easily wiped out by a single hero stopping a push. It does get more useful with the level 20 upgrade, but still cannot compete with Wailing Arrow.

LEVEL 13
>Overwhelming Affliction
Not a fan of this. It slows enemy heroes up to 25%, which is 5% less than the speedup you'd get from Evasive Fire, which means that this talent is the worse choice for chase and escape, and only really useful to assist the escape of teammates, but since it requires you to stop and fire a basic attack, using it that way can be very risky.

>Evasive Fire
Just like Shade Form, this is a talent you pick up if you have to do the heavy lifting in your team and the enemy team knows it. It makes you even more difficult to catch, and allows you to chase like a god. The cooldown on Withering Fire is shorter than the duration of this buff, so once you get the +30%, you keep it until you go out of range.

>Splinter Shot
The standard pickup for this tier. Withering Fire is a huge source of your damage, especially if you grabbed Ranger's Ambush. This basically doubles that source in teamfights, skirmishes and pushing. The only situation where it doesn't boost your damage by a massive amount is 1v1.

>Spell Shield
Not very useful. It can be okay if you're the main source of damage on your team by far, and you find yourself getting focused in teamfights. But even then, Evasive Fire is probably a better alternative as it gives you a defensive as well as offensive option. Might be a solid pickup if the opponent has heavy casters that immediately takes you out of teamfights every single time even if you try to stay out of range.

LEVEL 16
>Windrunner
Absolutely excellent talent. Not only does it allow you to cast your gap closer/escape twice, but combined with Ranger's Ambush, it gives you five additional Q shots. It lets you take bruiser camps solo almost without taking damage, wipe out creep waves without even using your W, juke across walls like a god, catch up with almost anyone and escape from almost any situation. My standard pickup from this tier.

>Cold Embrace
Also an excellent talent. Does a lot of work in teamfights. The problem is the reduced range, which you'll notice quickly, and the short duration, meaning that your team has to unload right as you fire your dagger, which can require coordination. Basically, you're trading chase ability and poke pressure for a slight teamfight boost. I pick it up when my team has solid, heavy AoE.

>Will of the Forsaken
Another good talent. Can gurantee escapes vs stun heavy teams, as well as give you more time to act in teamfights. The problem is the pathetic duration. I pick this up sometimes, but only against teams with at least two good stunners.

>Blood for Blood
Pick this up if you absolutely feel like you have no need for additional escape in the current game, have poor healing, and that you're a main source of damage. In other words, you barely ever pick this up. Can be fun for clutch plays though.

LEVEL 20
>Deafening Blast
It increases the damage of the center of your already heavy ult by 50% AND doubles the silence duration. Just grab it.

>Dark Lady's Call
The point where Possession finally becomes somewhat useful. It allows you to steal mercs, although the cooldown when you do is so long that it's still just not very useful. It'd take you 1 min 20 sec to convert a bruiser camp.

>Fury of the Storm
Why is this talent in the game still? Does anyone even pick it?

>Bolt of the Storm
Excellent talent on most heroes. On Sylvanas, you already have top tier escape, and it competes with a talent that almost doubles your already insane ult.