Our essential guide to playing Uther this month, with talent builds and tips.
Our complete Uther guide has everything you need to know about playing this Hero, with the latest builds, tips, map advice and counters.
As well as packing some pretty decent core healing powers, Uther’s also great for dropping stuns on the enemy team and cleansing his own teammates of debilitating effects. Unfortunately, he has considerably less options when it comes to mobility and getting out of trouble quickly, he can chug through Mana like few other Heroes in the game, and he’s also quite fiddly for a newcomer to get to grips with.
In our next Hero guide, we’ll help you get started with this formidable Support character, lay out a very solid talent build that you can tweak a little to suit every match, and finally give you some essential tips for mastering Uther’s finer points of combat.
Editor’s note – March update: You very rarely witness a truly seismic shift when it come to Uther’s most reliable talent build, and there are no changes to take into account in March. Further down the page we’ve added some advice for playing Uther on Blackheart’s Bay and Battlefield of Eternity – we’ll flesh this section out even further in future updates.
Uther strategy overview – March 2016
As a healer, your core mission is of course to keep your teammates alive at all costs using your direct healing spells and protective shields. You also have – if you use our preferred talent build – Shrink Ray to temporarily cripple an enemy Hero, and Hammer of Justice if you need to temporarily pin an assailant down.
Because of your typical talent picks, you’re not going to be great at laning in the early game, so try to stick to a teammate at all times and help them get their job done more efficiently. When fighting with your team in bigger tussles, stick close to the tanks but try to stay back a little and let them be the focus of attention. Focus on keeping your fight initiator alive at all times, but don’t be afraid to help another team member who becomes focused by the enemy as well
The best Uther talent build – March 2016
You’ll find very few variations out there on this established Uther build, although you might want to consider taking the alternative Level 10 talent option – particularly if you find yourself struggling to handle the extra skills afforded by this set-up in the late-game.
Uther standard build
Level 1 – Conjurer’s Pursuit – Collecting Regeneration Globes permanently increases Mana Regeneration by 0.1 per second.
Level 4 – Protective Shield – Activate to shield an allied Hero for 15% of their max Health for 5 seconds.
Level 7 – Cleanse – Activate to make target Ally Unstoppable for 1 second. Cannot be cast on yourself.
Level 10 – Divine Shield – Make an allied Hero Invulnerable and increase their Movement Speed by 20% for 3 seconds.
Level 13 – Shrink Ray – Activate to reduce an enemy Hero’s damage by 50% and Movement Speed by 50% for 4 seconds.
Level 16 – Benediction – Activate to reduce the Mana cost of your next Basic Ability by 50 and its cooldown by 10 seconds.
Level 20 – Redemption – After Eternal Devotion ends, return to 50% of your maximum Health at your spirit’s location. This effect has a 180 second cooldown.
Uther Abilities, Heroic Abilities and Traits – March 2016
Some of Uther’s Abilities can be a little tricky to micro-manage, depending on which route you end up travelling as you unlock your talents. To get you up to speed with the basics, here’s a quick overview of how each core skill works on the battlefield.
Abilities
Holy Light (Q)– Heal an ally for 936 (445 + 4% per level) Health. Mana: 90, Cooldown: 12 seconds.
Holy Radiance (W)– Heal all allies in a line for 480 (228 + 4% per level) Health, dealing 351 (167 + 4% per level) damage to enemies. Mana: 65, Cooldown: 12 seconds
Hammer of Justice (E)– Deal 250 (119 + 4% per level) damage and stun the target for 1 second. Mana: 50, Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
Divine Shield (R)– Make an allied Hero Invulnerable and increase their Movement Speed by 20% for 3 seconds. Mana: 100, Cooldown: 90 seconds.
Divine Storm (R)– Deal 410 (195 + 4% per level) damage and stun nearby enemies for 1.5 seconds. Mana: 100, Cooldown: 80 seconds.
Trait
Eternal Devotion– Upon dying, become an Invulnerable spirit for up to 8 seconds. While in spirit form, you can heal allies with Flash of Light.
Uther counters and match-ups – March 2016
It pays to brush up on which Heroes Uther is currently considered strong and weak against – not to mention who he pairs up with particularly well. We like to use the community-sourced opinion over at HeroesCounters to keep abreast of the latest shifts in the metagame. Here’s how things currently stand in each category.
- Strong against- Illidan, The Butcher, Chen, Zeratul, Sonya
- Weak against- Zagara, Johanna, Lunara, Sylvanas, Kharazim
- Teams well with- Illidan, Kerrigan, The Butcher, Zeratul, Sonya
Uther tips and battleground guides – March 2016
Despite his classification as an Easy character to play in Heroes of the Storm, Uther can still be a little bit fiddly once you start accumulating those extra shield and cleansing options. Here are a few tried and tested tips that should take some of the pain out of getting to grips with this Hero.
- Don’t spend so long lining up your Holy Radiance that you lose a team member, but at the same time do try to maximise the number of allies you manage to hit with this ability.
- When you first start playing Uther it can be easy to forget about his Eternal Devotion Trait! Make sure you’re ready to start throwing Flash of Light onto the most needy target as soon as the Ability comes off cooldown.
- Try to resist the urge to throw out Hammer of Justice whenever it’s available. It’s much better to have the stun component of the skill available when you need it, rather than for the general damage output.
- Make sure you’re applying your shields to the team member who’s taking the majority of the enemy’s attention, or to assist a teammate in their dash to freedom when at low health. Just be prepared to become the focus of their assailant’s attention instead!
- On the subject of Eternal Devotion, note that this effect does not delay the time it takes you to respawn in your normal physical form. It just provides a window to carry on assisting your friends in battle while you wait to appear at the Core once more.
- If you’re a little bit green when it comes to playing Uther – or it simpl,y serves your team better – consider choosing Divine Storm at Level 10. It’s one less thing to have to aim correctly during the frenzy of a team fight.
- Holy Light costs a holy tonne of Mana to cast, so use it sparingly. Wait until someone can receive maximum use of its potent healing ability before firing it off. Keep an eye on your Mana levels at all times as well, and take every opportunity to top up (using your Hearthstone or a Healing Fountain).
Battlefield of Eternity
Always make sure you arrive at the Immortal phase in good time to get stuck in with your team. Whether defending or attacking, your healing powers are essential for sustaining the team and retaining the upper hand. When the Immortal begins its assault, follow with the rest of the team and provide support so that you can all make the push count for as much as possible.
Blackheart’s Bay
Prevent the opposing team from handing their Doubloons in with Hammer of Justice – this’ll also provide your teammates with a window of opportunity to pile damage on during the stun. Uther can clear out the bonus coin camps by himself pretty handily, so feel free to take a detour during a tower push to grab these extra goodies.
Fightin’ Cowboy’s videos helped us out a huge amount while we were learning the game. The builds have changed with balance patches and shifting metagames, but the broad principles remain the same.
