Battlerite Champion Writeups

This is just a collection of writeups to give a basic overview of how a character plays, as well as some tidbits of information about their abilities. Not every character is written about yet. If you're already an intermediate level or above player, this probably isn't for you.

Battlerites are given, but for the sake of being brief I'm not reviewing all of them. The focus is to provide a general use build with some options for newer players, or to display a build that GC level mains of that character use. More specific builds might be optimal for certain situations or vs specific matchups, but these generally won't be covered. Most champions have one or two rites that are considered stronger than the rest, these will be marked as such.
Again, you don't have to take the suggested build as anything more than a recommendation, people will naturally have different opinions on what is "optimal".

In a similar vein, these guides are not completely comprehensive instructions on what to do in every single matchup. There is a bit too much information there to mention without these turning into novels.

Links to GC level streamers that main the character (or at least play them fairly often) will be included if you're interested in that sort of thing. Note that they are just here as a reference, they don't officially endorse this or whatever.

No, I'm not god and my word is not infallible. If something needs work or is blatantly wrong let me know. Pls no bully.
As always, if you want to master a character, the best way is to play them and decide for yourself what works for you. Playing > Reading.

Some writeups were originally written as replies to a question in the thread, so they are less structured. I'll get around to fixing them up.


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Freya:
Freya is a high-skillcap duelist who is self-sufficient with consistent melee damage and sustain, while also possessing a strong poking tool in her M2. She is very flexible in how you can play her, sit back and just throw hammers constantly incapping people, or play aggressively and stack shields. She also excels in sudden death because of her knockbacks and incaps.

Because Freya works all by herself, she isn't as reliant on team composition as other champions. She does appreciate those who can help her take the orb or burst off her incaps though.

You can bully basically every melee in the game 1v1, and annoy ranged characters with your M2. Her counter is one of the more punishing for a ranged character to hit because it pulls them to you, leaving them out of position and probably surrounded by your team.
Her main weakness is a lack of a way to peel for a teammate, she can't really stop things not aimed at her. Additionally, her orb control is pretty lackluster. Despite being a strong fighter, losing all the middle orbs will heavily disadvantage you, in an otherwise even match you can lose solely because of it.

Something to be aware of going into this, she can apply a debuff called Static which allows her to do more damage and incap off her hammers.

Basic Abilities:

M1: melee attack, three hit combo that does 10 damage twice, then ends with a 16 damage hit. +2 damage per hit if static is on
	This should be your main source of damage, it's fast, consistent, spammable damage.
	- Generally if you're hitting someone with this you want to have static on them first. You have a variety of ways to apply it, so this shouldnt be hard.
	- The final hit has a small knockback on it, though not much can be done with it.

M2: 10 Damage Projectile, applies static
	This is a fast poke with a short cooldown that will let freya play at range. If it hits while someone has static on them, it will knockback. If they hit a wall, they get incapped.
	- You should basically be using this whenever you're not in melee range, or just before you start trading to apply static.
	- You get one free hit off the incap.
	- If you incap someone close enough, you have enough time to miss 2 m1s in order to hit them with the larger 16 damage hit. This is just a small damage optimization.
	- In sudden death the knockback is extremely powerful. Freya can stall out the round and win when the circle is small by repeatedly pushing people out into the fog.

Q: Counter, applies static
	This is your trance, when hit it pulls the person in and gives you an 18 hp shield. Though it has a few things that set it apart from most counters.
	- Use it to block big attacks, pull ranged characters into a bad spot, or stand in front of the orb and block the enemy team from getting it.
	- Unlike other counters, you can move while you cast it.
	- Unlike other counters, it stays active after procced. You can pull multiple people in and absorb multiple attacks, each attack you absorb will give you more shield. However, because better players generally won't hit it multiple times, it's best to cancel it after you get one proc off so you can start trading earlier.

E: AoE attack around you, applies static
	This is an iframe, generally you want to use this to dodge an ability while also dealing damage back.
	- Try not to use this simply to apply static or deal damage. You will get a lot more value out of it by dodging big burst damage/CC.
	- It does not trigger counters, so you are free to use it then. This is part of why she is so good against melee champions.

Space: Jump that grants haste and +6 damage on your next attack.
	Another iframe, and freya's main gapcloser. Use it to dodge or to get close to someone, or both.
	- Ideally you should be saving this until your opponent uses their own space/out. Spacing in when they have their own space up won't accomplish much, whereas if you space to follow their own you are in a much better position.
	- Sometimes it is best to simply use this defensively, use it to iframe something big or to reposition.
    - Because this is her only real repositioning tool, try to avoid spacing in randomly. If you space in, you are committed to staying in because you no longer have the mobility to get back out. If things turns south, you could leave yourself stranded in the middle of the enemy team. Only space in when you feel you can punish someone or are confident you won't get punished yourself.

Energy Abilities:

R: Wide angle 14 damage attack that grants a shield, grants a bigger one if the target has static on them.
	It's a simple ability that gives freya more sustain, pretty simple. Use it when you want to trade and come out on top.
	- Of course you should try to have static on the target you hit.
	- It hits multiple targets, the more targets you hit, the bigger the shield. Things like blossom tree or the orb work for this too, abuse them.
	- Because it hits in an AoE, you can use to to try to last hit mid orb if someone is body blocking you.

F: Big AoE that deals a 45 damage burst. Applies Static, or consumes it to deal 15 more damage.
	It's one of the better ults in the game, plain and simple.
	- Of course, try to apply static before ulting.
	- You can guarantee landing her ult if you incap someone, but you have to ult right away. This will mean you can't apply static though.
	- It is perfectly acceptable to ult the orb in a 1v1, you get health and 50 energy back and it's one of the only ways freya can safely secure it. Of course, hitting the orb and someone else is optimal, but you can't always do it.

EX-E: Fires off an AoE shockwave on the ground that applies static and snare.
	One of your better energy abilities, it's fast and fairly long range. Sometimes you simply treat it like another hammer.
	- Also does not trigger counters.
	- AoE, so it can hit multiple people. You can also use it to snag a low hp orb from a distance if someone is trying to body block you.
	- Because it snares, It is insanely easy to land a hammer after it. Makes for easy incaps.

EX-Space: Jump with longer range, +8 damage instead of +6, applies static and snare
	Also one of your better energy abilities. At first glance it doesn't seem like much, but closing the gap, applying static, and snaring someone without escapes means you can m1 them for tons of damage.

General Purpose Rites:

	http://loadouts.gg/1.1.1/Freya/2,4,7,8,13

	Twin Hammers: Hammers get another charge
	- More hammers, more poke, more incap.
	Tempest: Hitting your hammer applies haste
	- Hammer has a low cooldown and is easy to land, this rite makes you one of the most mobile champions in the game. Synergizes with Twin Hammers.
	Lightning Rod: Shield on E
	- Gives freya even more sustain, plus since it is aoe each target hit gives more shield. Must Pick.
	Lightning Speed: Attack speed increase on space
	- Gives freya a decent amount of burst off her Space, lets you punish and helps shore up her lack of orb control by letting her kill it quicker.
	Electric Conduction: Landing M1 after space gives a shield
	- Gives freya even more sustain. You get the idea. The weaker of the two shield rites.

Alternatives:

	Overcharge: Triggering Q gives your allies a shield and applies static to nearby enemies
	- This is generally a lot better in 3s, but shielding your entire team and applying static to multiple people is pretty powerful. In 2s you'll get less value out of this, though it's still decent. If you include it you swap it for Electric Conduction.

	Surge: R costs 0 energy if it lands and cooldown is reduced
	- Pretty good, Freya has very good EX moves so she is an energy hungry character. Using one of your energy skills for free lets you use your other ones more often, or save for ult. Again, can swap it for Electric Conduction.

	Torrent: Extra damage on E + Pull
	- Just a decent general purpose rite.

	Thunderstruck: Your ultimate applies a 1s stun
	- Also very strong, you get two free M1s off your ultimate from this. Brings your damage from 60 to 80. If you hit the ult without static on them, you can M1 -> M2 to get a guaranteed incap assuming there is a wall nearby. Something to consider though is that you probably won't be ulting too often, other rites might give you more consistent value. Again, Electric Conduction can be swapped for this.

General Advice:
Don't blow your space, e, and counter in rapid succession. It might feel nice to combo everything together, but it leaves you exposed at the end. Space out your ability usage, try to always have one up.

Freya against ranged:
The thing with freya is that you can actually outrange ranged characters if you play properly, you don't have to go in a lot of the time. Haste on hammer means you can poke, and when you are hasted the ranged will have a hard time hitting you assuming you dodge correctly.

Now this isn't always the case, like against a support in 2s or in general for 3s you do have to go in to do damage that isn't just healed off. Simply spacing in while they haven't used their own won't accomplish much, that much is true. Luckily freya is just very flexible in how she can choose her engagements.

Landing an incap means you can just walk up and start the fight like that. Because of this, a lot of characters are forced to dodge or block the second hammer, so even if you don't land the incap you just burned one of their cooldowns and might be able to chase.

Getting Q off is another because of the pull, but proper usage is something that requires a degree of prediction. At lower ranks people will just hit your counter mindlessly, but don't expect that to last. A better way to land counters is to wait for the projectile to be in the air, and counter it on reaction. You do need a degree of space between you for this, but it's still very effective up till mid-tier players. Better players will fake cast or intentionally miss to bait your counter, so keep that in the back of your mind.
My one advice is that you shouldn't tunnel vision landing the counter, and should you miss it, feel free to back off assuming you can. You don't have to commit in a lot of situations, you can fall back to reset your position.

This is probably less effective than the other two, but at closer range you can just snare with EX-E.

Finally, and often overlooked by newer players, is mount usage. Using your mount to get in on a ranged character puts you in a highly advantageous position as you used no cooldowns to reach them. It is fairly risky though, if you get hit you will get snared and punished for it.

Streamers:
http://twitch.tv/VexationBR

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Pearl:
First and foremost you have to hit your M1s. Pearl has almost no offensive pressure since her skills are so defensive, so simply landing m1s and heals will go a long way.

Use your bubbles to block off ranged characters from taking the orb. If you have energy and a silence, you can EX-Bubble the orb, Silenced M1, Normal M1 to take orb all by yourself.

You need to be able to use what little skills you have to protect your teammate. Most of pearl's skills are selfish, so if your teammate dies early on pearl isn't going to be able to win. Remember that your bubbles have knockback to them when they spawn, so you can use them to knock melees away from your teammate, might take a bit to learn this. Your R is basically your only other ability that helps your teammate not die, use it. Remember that R cleanses debuffs/CC, so if they get incapped and the other team is about to combo them, you bubble shield them.

Pearls ult is kind of shitty, since people can mostly walk out of it. The things to note about it are that you can get a free silence off RIGHT when they land if you time it right, and that it's REALLY good in sudden death.
There are some more advanced tricks you can do like using your E bubble knockback to push people into it, but for the most part stick with EX abilities.

ALWAYS take the Q charges your M1 rite.
You can take dive reset against double melee, and shooting through bubble does more damage against double ranged.

Streamers:
http://twitch.tv/MrHuDat
http://twitch.tv/eygrr

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Raigon
Raigon is basically fundamentals: the character.

Raigon has tons of sustain and sticking power, because of this he has an easy time winning trades. He's a very well rounded character with good damage, energy gain, decent orb control, and fantastic EX abilities.
His weaknesses are that he doesn't have much ranged harassment, a fairly lackluster ult, and only has one i-frame.

Rites:
Free Ex-M1 charge on space offers you even more sustain and saves you energy.
Extra damage on space + snare gives you a bit more burst as well as synergizes with the above rite. If you want more sticking power, you could take snare on M2 here instead.
Double R is just super strong overall.
E-recast as it lets you get close without having to blow space.
Duelist or Riposte. Even more sustain or stun off parry.

Tips n Tricks:
Don't blow space and Q in rapid succession.
Raigon wants to get in his opponent's face, but for the most part he doesn't want to use space to get there. Try to prioritize using your M2, E, R, or using your mount to close the distance.
Despite only having one i-frame, Raigon is able to use his M2 and R as semi-escapes. Dashing out of a big ability when space is down can save your ass.
Landing E means you can get one free attack off just as they land provided you time it correctly, generally you would be using M2 or sometimes space.
Your EX-E comes out significantly faster and incaps, and serves as the only significant hard CC in raigon's kit. Use it to secure orbs, save allies, or set up combos.
Your EX-M1 is strong, and allows you to trade well while also giving your m1 a little extra range. Use it often.
Your M2 and EX-M1 hits multiple targets, if your enemies are standing next to each other, the orb, or something like blossom tree, you can abuse this to deal more damage/gain more energy/get more healing.
Your R interrupts casts and knocks back. Use it to knock orb to your team, abuse sudden death fog, as burst, or just as another dash.

Streamers:
http://twitch.tv/Damoklees

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Rook:
Rook is a tanky melee that has a fair amount of CC and incredible sustain. In a pure M1 battle Rook isn't very strong, however you have a variety of ways to combo his abilities together in order to make up for that.
His style of play mostly revolves around his space and setting up combos with his R. Rook is an exceptional solo 2s champion, and is very well equipped to handle 1v2s. He does however have a harder time in 3s, as Rook has to "Go in", but is less likely to come out alive.
It is worth noting that he excels in sudden death due to his multiple knockback abilities.

Rook's space is integral to his success, however it is heavily telegraphed and his only engage. So in order to succeed with rook you need to be able to capitalize on his space. Good Rook players will cancel cast it often, aim at one enemy and flick it to another last second, and abuse walls to get it to land. The general concept is simple, Rook's space has an obvious start up but is easily canceled before you actually charge in. By fake casting it, you can bait people into reacting to the space and wasting their cooldowns for free. Similarly, by flicking rook's space between targets you can make people fail to react to it. These aren't things that are exclusive to Rook, however they are definitely important to him.
Abusing walls with space is a little bit wonky: Essentially if you charge a wall at a slight angle, you will slide against it instead of stopping completely. If you hit a corner like this, you will wrap around it slightly and keep going. The sharper the angle, the more you will wrap around it and vice versa. This makes it possible to hit people behind walls who don't even have line of sight to you.
Hopefully we haven't gotten too ahead of ourselves here, but I felt it necessary to preface everything else with that.

Rook struggles mostly against Ranged champions that can kite him, as again, he only has space to get in. There are also a few melees who can out-duel him, Freya comes to mind as a particularly awful matchup.

Basic Abilities:

M1: Melee attack that deals 10 damage
	Nothing very special here. Hitting M1 does reduce the cooldown of your M2, however.

M2: Jump in the air and smash in an AoE. Applies armor break.
	A core skill and rook's only iframe.
	- Armor break is a debuff causing the enemy to take 20% more damage.
	- You can use this both offensively and defensively. Deal damage, Win trades, Use in combos, Dodge abilities. Ideally you want to use this to dodge something and deal damage.
	- You can hit the orb to kill it even if someone is standing in front of it.

Space: Rush
	You charge forward, doing more damage the longer you traveled. It inflicts a short stun.
	- As stated before, cancel casting, flicking, and walls are your friend with this.
	- The closer Rook is to someone, the harder it is for them to react in time to his space vs not reacting to a fake cast. Keep this in mind.
	- Cancel casting too much is also potentially a bad thing, as people can hit you for free damage during it. You also aren't doing much when you cancel cast, so if your teammate is getting focused down and dying, you might want to start doing damage.
	- Once you land it, you can land one free M1 because of the stun. A lot of Rooks will simply hit one M1 and wait to see what you do after to avoid counters. That said, if the enemy has no counter or it is on cooldown, feel free to keep swinging.

Q: Counter
	If procced, it makes you invulnerable to damage for a second, gives you a movement speed buff, and an attack speed buff.
	- Remember your M1s? They're good now. You attack so much faster when this buff is on you.
	- Additionally the movement speed allows you to chase or retreat, it's flexible.
	- You're invulnerable to damage, not CC. If your counter gets procced and you get CC'd right after, tough luck. Conversely, if you counter something counterable that CCs, you will obviously cancel it.
	- While Rook gets a lot of value out of his counter, he is also reliant on it. Once you have used up space, this is the only thing preventing you from getting focused down by the enemy team. You cannot use it wastefully, especially in higher ranks where it is more difficult to get your counter procced.
	- As always, sometimes holding your counter for a bit is better than using it immediately. Better players will actively avoid trying to hit it, whereas if you miss it they are free to pummel you.

E: Throw an AoE boulder that deals 16 damage and knocks back
	Rook's main poke, use it as often as possible to deal damage from range.
	- It doesn't trigger counters
	- It goes over walls
	- Can use to try to steal orb or move it away from the enemy team.
	- You can manipulate the knockback depending on what part of the AoE you hit them with. It's a good idea to play around with it and learn where exactly someone is going to land as you'll need to know in order to combo this with other skills.
	- It's useful in sudden death to knock people into the fog.

Energy Abilities:

R: A wide angle attack that deals 12 damage and knocks back. Hitting them into a wall incaps them.
	Rook's Second best energy ability. Incredibly strong. Use it to set up combos, keep someone off your ally for a few seconds, knock them into sudden death fog, or simply get someone off you if you have no other cooldowns.
	- Can hit multiple enemies at once
	- Ideally you want to aim for the incap on this skill. Once you land it, you are free to setup your 40+ damage combos, it is insanely strong.
	- Toss Boulder in the Air -> M2 or Space while it's still in the air -> M1 is the basic combo. It might take a few tries to get right, as you need the M2/Space to land just before the boulder without knocking them too far away for the M1 to reach. If done right, you'll have a combo that cannot be countered or iframed. Practice this and get it down pat, it's one of the strongest things rook can do.
	- Since you knock them in the direction you are facing, you can somewhat angle it towards the wall in order to get an incap against a wall that isn't directly behind them. A bit tricky to do, but still possible.
	- You can also use it to knock orb away or hit the orb through someone in front of it

F: Ultimate
	It's shit. I'm not even going to waste time describing it. Your other energy uses are infinitely better.

EX M1: Eat meat to gain 16 hp and 24 over 4s.
	This is by far your best energy skill. 40hp for one bar of energy is ridiculous sustain. Use it whenever you are missing a decent chunk of HP. This section is criminally short for such a good ability.
	- It has a 1 second cooldown, you can spam fairly often. Of course if you use it again in 4s you won't get the full heal over time though.
	- Because of this, Rook can convert energy pickups into Health. Getting mid orb in a 1v1 gives you 50 energy, that turns into 80 hp. Smaller orange orbs work too, just not as well.

EX M2: Throw a projectile dealing 24 damage, applies snare
	This is less used than your other energy abilities, but still situationally useful. The one thing to be careful of is that it shares your M2 cooldown, so by using this you don't have your only iframe anymore.
	- Can secure a long range kill.
	- Can snare someone to make boulder or space easier to land.
	- You can E and then toss meat bolt where it will land to steal orb at 40 hp. This is your best way to burst orb and you can do it from range as well.
	- You can bait out a counter with it because the large windup and noticeable voiceline
	- You can repeatedly cancel cast along with space to BM with annoying voicelines. Sorry, couldn't resist.


General usage Rites:

	http://loadouts.gg/1.1.1/Rook/2,3,7,9,12

	Squash: Your M2 inflicts a 0.5s stun
	- Incredibly strong, gives you a free M1 off the stun just like your space. Effectively almost doubles the damage of your M2. Can also confirm M2 stun into R incap. Must Pick.
	Weapon Break: M2 does 2 more damage and armor break causes enemies to deal 33% less damage
	- Just good value, Makes rook tankier and gives bonus Damage, Synergizes with Crumble, see below.
	Frenzy: Landing Space causes you to enter Berserk for 1.5s
	- Insane value, makes one of your best abilities even better. You get the Counter bonus without ever needing to land counter. Your damage potential from landing space skyrockets. It gives you extra mobility. Spacing on orb lets you M1 to kill it quickly. Must Pick 110%.
	Giant: Damage taken during Berserk is reduced by 30%
	- Make rook even tankier, Synergizes with Frenzy. Great value.
	Crumble: Boulder deals 2 bonus Damage and inflicts Armor Break.
	- Add another way to apply Armor break, Extra damage to your poke, Extra damage to combos, Synergizes with Weapon Break. All around solid.

	Alternatives:

	Rook Smash: Adds 6 damage to your M2
	- This can replace Weapon Break if you prefer slightly more damage over weaken. It does have a slight bonus in that it adds 6 damage to your EX-M2 as well, where Weapon Break does not apply to EX-M2.

	Madness: Increases Berserk Movement Speed by 30%
	- Can replace Crumble if you want extra mobility.

Streamers:
http://twitch.tv/olithebrave - Rook Main
http://twitch.tv/JerryTheRook - Rook Main
http://twitch.tv/Joltzie - Plays Rook sometimes, focuses more on 3v3.
http://twitch.tv/finlev - More of a multi-classer, but plays Rook in solo 2s often.

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Shifu against melee:
Go sustain rites on M2 and Counter. Self-sustain on melees is top tier since it tilts trades in your favor.

The number one thing when trading with melees is that you have to watch their counter, you hit it and you are going to lose the trade. Shifu doesn't have a skill that lets him play around counters naturally, you the best you can do is just wait them out. Better players will generally try to counter one of three situations, your fully stacked M2, your immaterial, and your incap. Lower tier players will generally only counter when they've used up their other moves, which makes them very predictable. Keep these two things in mind when trying to play around them.

Shifu is pretty versatile in his kit, he's got good damage, three iframes, and good self sustain.
In terms of his energy usage:
His R incap is borderline broken with how quick and easy it is to land. Use it take someone out of the fight to focus someone else, to save your teammate, to secure orbs, or sometimes just to guarantee an M2.
His EX-space is a very powerful self-heal, nothing really needs to be said here.
His EX-e is more situational, but still pretty strong. Usually it's best used if you're too far away from orb to kill it normally, you can just yoink it to you for the steal.
His ult is one of the best in the game and one of the reasons shifu can 1v2 effectively.

Tips n Tricks:
Dont blow space and counter all at once.
Your space removes debuffs from you. Sirius weakens you? Rooted but want to chase? Cleanse
Your javelins are iframes, properly using them is difficult but extremely rewarding. A lot of people think they can simply ult shifu when his space is down, but javing a wall ruins their day.
In a 1v1, you can incap someone and kill the orb before the incap ends (4 m1s, 1 m2). Orb control is one of the main deciding factors who wins duels in this game.
Like freya's R, you can abuse orbs, blossom tree, or pestilus queen with EX-space to get free healing if you need it. Do it.

Streamers:
http://twitch.tv/Skywind555

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Sirius:

Sirius is basically a support that doesn't play anything like a support, and as a character is simple but unforgiving. Because of his straightforward playstyle and his vulnerability, he is very much a "Feast or Famine" kind of character. When he works he is almost oppressively strong, but when he doesn't he's almost useless.

He's an opportunist who best fits in melee heavy compositions. The general playstyle is to sit back and throw out heals and petrifies while your teammates burn the opponents defensive skills. Once you have an opening, you space in and land your charged M1.

Because he mostly relies on his teammates to go in before him and isn't the best at creating openings himself, ranged champions make for some of his worst teammates with few exceptions. In short, his effectiveness is comp dependent.

Something that needs to be addressed is that sirius is very punishable as a character. Where most characters would have at least three defensive tools, sirius only has two. It's not uncommon for newer sirius players to use his space, miss his counter, and immediately get focused by multiple people and die from one bad rotation. Whether you are successful as sirius depends heavily on how you manage those two skills.

Basic Abilities:

M1: melee attack, does 8 damage, does 22 when charged and applies weaken
	This is your main ability, everything sirius does revolves around landing the charged M1.
	- Once weaken is on someone, their damage and healing is cut in half, this means your shitty normal M1s will outtrade them.
	- If you know you are about to miss, you can cancel the m1 if you're fast enough, saving the charge.
	- If you miss, you aren't very threatening until you get a recharge. Sometimes waiting to use it or cancel casting it is better than getting it iframed/countered.
	- The charged M1 has more range.

M2: heal ally for 14 hp
	Not much to say here, it's a heal that's on the weaker side of supports.
	- It does go over walls unlike most other heals though, sometimes it's needed to toss them blindly to save your ally.

Q: Counter
	One of the best counters in the game as it AoE heals, gives you an i-frame, gives you a choice to reposition offensively or defensively, and immediately charges your M1.
	- Be VERY careful of when you use this. It is both very strong and a huge risk. Sometimes not countering for a bit is more valuable as most better players will be cautious about hitting you while you still have it up. Once you use it though, they know they can go ham on you.
	- Generally you want to be offensive with it and teleport next to an enemy, that said sometimes you do need to back off if you have nothing else/are low hp.
	- You do heal allies if you land on them. Not really a priority, but still something to keep in mind.
	- Against ranged characters, you can wait for a projectile to be in the air and try to counter it on reaction. Don't counter on the windup, because people can cancel cast.
	- If you do throw out a bad counter as Sirius, at the very least cancel it instead of sitting there letting them setup on you.

E: AoE Petrify
	Basic CC. Use it to take orbs, save allies, lock someone down and focus the other guy, set up burst, save your ass because you have nothing left, etc.
	- Doesn't trigger counters
	- Because people don't want to be CC'd, you can often use it to burn one of their outs before going in.
	- Because it locks them in place, you can use it to engage someone without using space, just petrify and walk up to them to conserve your cooldowns.
	- If you don't have a charged M1, you can M1 the petrify twice without breaking it to farm free energy.
	- Petrify gives the enemy a shield, however if you time it right, you can get the full charged M1 damage by swinging just before the petrify ends. Skills have a minimum 0.1 cast time it won't be possible to counter or iframe it.

Space: Jump forward dealing 10 and healing 10 to allies
	It's your basic long distance jump with iframes and your only real escape. Unfortunately it is also your best engage.
	- Try to conserve it as much as possible, if you can get in without space you generally want to do so. That said if someone is wide open, feel free to fuck them up.
	- NEVER EVER space in, M1, and immediately counter. Moreso than any other character this will kill you.
	- Since it heals, you can use it as an emergency extra heal charge to save an ally if they really need it.
	- If you space into a wall that you can't jump over, you will arrive back where you started. This has some limited use in juking people or for iframing something without giving up your positioning.

Energy Abilities:

R: 18 damage dash attack that snares
	You lunge forward and swing your weapon in a wide arc.
	- Good to close distance without using space.
	- Hits multiple enemies.
	- Can use it as a pseudo escape if you have nothing else to dodge with.

F: Ult
	Fires a beam that deals 100 damage and heals allies, heals you for 50hp
	- Cannot be countered
	- Because it is a straight line, the optimal positioning for it is to line people up beforehand so you can hit 2+ people.
	- You do turn slowly while using it, so you want some distance between you and the enemy before you use it or else you won't be able to turn fast enough.
	- You can still counter during the ult, many people forget that and try to wail on you from behind. You can always wait to do so towards the end of it, if you don't want to waste damage.

EX M1: 24 damage projectile that snares
	Sirius's only ranged attack
	- Has basically no cooldown, can be spammed
	- Because it is so spammable, you can use it 4x in place of your ult. Obviously it's not as good, but it is more forgiving if you miss with 1 bar of energy rather than 4.
	- Can use to finish someone off, steal the orb, burst people
	- Long obvious wind up means it's good to cancel cast to bait counters with.

EX Space: Jump, 14 damage, 14 heal. Recharges your weapon.
	It's a space that gives you a weapon charge. A bit less useful than the other energy abilities, but situationally very powerful.
	- This version of space has a slight vacuum effect to it.

General purpose rites:

	http://loadouts.gg/1.1.1/Sirius/1,3,7,11,14

	Lethal Slash: Charged M1 does 6 more Damage
	- Your M1 does good damage, now it does more. Good for burst and orb control. Must Pick.

	Saros Cycle: Charged M1 charges faster
	- Pretty good, your most powerful attack is able to be used more often.

	Sunwell: If you heal an ally with space, reduce the cooldown by 4s. Space also heals more.
	- Extremely powerful, Sirius is very vulnerable without space and this halves the cooldown. It is less good in 2v2 though since you don't always have an ally in a place you want to space to.

	Lunatic: E can be recast
	- Double petrify makes landing your petrifies on a single target incredibly easy, or allows you to petrify multiple people at different locations. Very strong. Must Pick.
	- As a note, the second petrify does not last as long.

	Celestial Cycle: R charges your weapon by 50%
	- Again, your charged M1 can be used more often. Your R is somewhat lackluster without this.
	- Hitting two targets recharges it by 100%

	Alternatives:

	Debilitating Slash: Charged M1 weaken increase and extra duration
	- Weaken is extremely powerful, this lets you trade for even longer once you land it.
	- You can take this over Saros Cycle, and it may be stronger than Saros. However, this is the less forgiving option of the two.

	Sunbath: Charged M1 hits make your next heal spawn a second heal under it
	- Sirius has weaker healing than most supports, this helps alleviate that. Swap this for Sunwell if you are having a hard time landing your space on an ally.
	- As a note, the bonus lasts a LONG time. You don't have to use it immediately, you can save it.

Streamers:

There isn't really a dedicated GC level sirius streamer.
http://twitch.tv/neewha
That said, this guy is a support main who does play him fairly often and streams almost daily.

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Taya:
Taya is a more aggressive ranged character and really strong right now, but she is very unforgiving to mistakes and requires you to abuse movement properly.

In terms of rites, a good general build would be:
Moving M2 on haste
Q wallstun
Q haste refresh
Extra E haste duration
Extra Energy gain, You can take extra M2 stun if you're confident in the character.

The first thing about taya to learn is that you have to start hitting both ends of her boomerangs, Taya's M1s take a long time to complete and she is very vulnerable without 25 energy. Only hitting one end of your M1 means you will gain energy extremely slowly. Taking too long to get to get 25 energy, or making a mistake before you get to it can end up with you simply dying at the start of the round flat out. Learning to manipulate the return boomerang with your own movement while simultaneously dodging is a core concept you need to get a decent grasp over if you want to be good with her.

As taya, your job is to do your best impression of a hedgehog, so your ability to use WASD to avoid skills is a necessity. She has no way to iframe damage without energy, and her only non-energy way to get melee off her is Q, however this does trigger counters. So if you get Q countered early on, you will flat out die.

Tips n Tricks:
Taya can't M1 again until the boomerang returns, but you can use other skills while waiting for it to come back. M1 -> M2 is a good way to optimize damage in a short amount of time.
E is both offensive and defensive, you can use it to boost your speed or throw it on someone to setup an M2. Most of the time you will be using it on yourself though.
During haste you have enough time to M1 twice, or M1 and M2.
Using Q during haste to reapply it is very important to keep her mobile, learn how to keep yourself constantly speedy.
EX-Q is an iframe (normal Q isn't) with a significant range increase over the normal version, use it. It's also very good for reapplying haste. Since you dash through enemies while using it, you can use it to go through directional shields like bakko bulwark if you are close enough, but this doesn't work against counters.
EX-M2 is kind of shitty, it can be useful situationally, but generally you just shouldn't use it.
Your M2 has an arc to it, you can use this to hit people behind walls.
Tornado can be cast on teammates as well as yourself, save your teammate when they have nothing.
Her boomerang does not trigger counters on the return. You can intentionally miss and then manipulate it hit in order to play around counters.
Likewise, throwing her E on someone who is countering will cancel it.

Streamers:
http://twitch.tv/aversehd