Samuro – Quick Guide (Build, Counters, Tips & More)

Introduction

Samuro is a Hero that our Heroes of the Storm boosting team has predicted would join the Nexus. He's an assasin from the Warcraft franchise. How will he rank on our Heroes of the Storm Tier List, click and see. Samuro's release date is on October 18th, 2016.

Samuro, the last remaining blademaster to wear the banner of the Burning Blade, is on a warrior's pilgrimage in search of vengeance and redemption for his fallen clan. It will be a long journey, but he has sworn an oath to restore his clan's honor.

Pros & Cons

PROS

- Sometimes hard to pin down

- High burst damage

- Fun to play

- Decent disengage abilities

CONS

- Lots of practise to master

- Vulnerable to burst damage

- No sustain

- All damage countered by blinds

- Weak to vision abilities

Samuro Build

Level 1 - Way Of The Blade

Level 4 - Mirage

Level 7 - Phantom Pain

Level 10 - Illusion Master

Level 13 - Mirrored Steel

Level 16 - Press The Attack

Level 20 - Wind Strider

Counters

1. Lunara - High mobility, the poison and her vision on you make her the hardest

counter. You will have a hard time chasing her and she can poke you all the time.

2. Tracer - High mobility, simply runs away from you whenever she likes.

3. Li-Li - The blind mitigates ALL your damage.

4. Thrall - A good Thrall will wipe the floor with you.

5. Illidan - Again, evasion blocks all your damage.

6. Johanna - Tanky and her blinds mitigate all your damage.

7. Tassadar - Tass' passive vision reveals real Samuro.

Samuro Tips

1. Samuro has no poke, just straight forward burst melee damage, you rely entirely on Wind Walk and Images, have them up before a fight.

2. Always try to use Critical Strikes so you gain its benefit before or after a passive bonus. When you talent it, its passive is gained every 3 strikes instead of 4.

3. Your Images die quite fast, use them to mitigate spells, to trigger your talent or to distract while you try to Wind Walk away.

4. Most of the time when you use Images, you're placed in the back one out of the 3, use this to disengage.

6. Images can be a distraction but they're also a good source of damage for 1v1's or any other fight where you believe you won't need them to escape.

7. Try to have your Trait up as much as possible.

8. If possible, try to engage using Wind Walk to trigger the bonus damage and have them up to use back again fast.

9. Your images attack randomly if there are more targets, ofcourse if there's one target, they will all focus that target.

10. If you can, a good method of engage is to open with Wind Walker to trigger your damage bonus and immediately use Bladestorm. You'll then have Wind Walker up again to teleport to them (if they're trying to run) before using Critical Strikes twice.

12. We build Samuro so he has great engage on burst damage. Open with Wind Walker, burst down a squishy target and you'll have them up soon enough to escape.

13. Wind Walker provides damage reduction and an unbreakable stealth but only for one second. Combined with the leap due to the level 13 talent, you shouldn't get caught out often.

14. Be aware that Samuro is highly countered with "vision" skills (such as Tassadar's Trait). They reveal which of his Mirror Images are fake. Vision counters include*:

Abathur - Toxic Nest (4s Reveal)

Brightwing - Peekaboo! (6s Reveal)

Chromie - Peer into the Future (4s Reveal, 2s Duration)

Gall - Eye of Kilrogg (45s Duration)

Greymane - Scented Tincture (10s Reveal)

Kharazim - Foresight (3s Duration), Clairvoyance (4s Reveal, 10s Duration)

Lt. Morales - Scouting Drone (45s Duration)

Lunara - Natural Perspective (3/9s Reveal), Skybound Wisp (upon death; 4s Duration)

Malfurion - Moonfire (2s Reveal), Scouting Drone (45s Duration)

Medivh - Dust of Appearance (10s Reveal)

Murky - Clairvoyance (4s Reveal, 10s Duration)

Raynor - Scouting Drone (45s Duration)

Rehgar - Farsight (4s Reveal, 10s Duration)

Rexxar - Unleash the Boars (5s Reveal), Flare (5s Duration)

Tassadar - Oracle (5s Duration/8s Duration talented)

Tracer - Tracer Rounds (4s Reveal)

Tyrande - Sentinel (5s Reveal), Hunter's Mark (4s Reveal)

Zeratul - Vorpal Blade (Causes Basic Attacks to reveal if they are an Illusion. 3s Reveal)

15. Some of spell effects persist on this mirror images:

Chromie - Temporal Loop

Falstad - Lightning Rod

Johanna - Sins Exposed

Greymane - Marked for the Kill

Leoric - Drain Hope

Tassadar - Static Charge (not viable)

Xul - Bone Prison

Zagara - Hunter Killer (Hydralisks will continue to fixate on the real Samuro after he uses Mirror Image)

Zeratul - Vorpal Blade

16. Samuro is weak to long fights, his kit is all about quick and effective fighting, long fights render him useless.

How To Play Against Samuro

1. You will never be able to gank a decent Samuro player. Always play a little more defensively when facing against him and wait for him to make a mistake or dive in. He has to dive in to do any damage, so wait until he commits and then counter his Illusions and focus him down.

2. Stay close to your towers and keep them alive if you can, as they are extra valuable against Samuro. Samuro risks a lot with tower diving, so if he tower-dives you, try to blow up any enemy minions in range of your towers so they will focus on him and his Illusions.

3. The jungle areas between lanes are where Samuro is strongest, as his Illusions will have a clear target to focus pre-Illusion Master and escaping Samuro is very difficult once he's on you. Try to stay in lane or travel with at least one teammate when rotating to reduce his ganking potential.

4. Bladestorm makes Samuro Unstoppable but he is still very easily blown up by damage, and Samuro using Bladestorm immediately reveals himself pre-20 so feel free to focus all you can on taking him out or forcing a retreat.

5. Do not feel discouraged about Samuro never dying. A skilled Samuro player with Illusion Master has so many escapes and ways to disengage that he may very well never die. This doesn't matter, as Samuro only affects the teamfight with his DPS, and if he's being forced out of a fight, that means he is not contributing and your team has the advantage. If you blow up his Illusions and force him to disengage every fight, then he is effectively dead.

6. AOE is your friend. Use it to quickly clear his Illusions and zone him out. Falstad should try to mark Samuro with his Lightning Rod, as the effect will persist through Samuro's Mirror Image and continue zapping the real Samuro. Remember to do this safely, however.

7. Xul's Bone Prison is also very effective at forcing Samuro's hand, as Mirror Image will not cancel the delayed effect.

8. You do not have to kill Samuro to force him out of a fight. The more damaged Samuro becomes, the worse his Illusions will be able to tank damage for him, so in longer sustained fights Samuro loses more and more opportunities to engage. Samuro thrives in high-speed, momentum-based teamfights that end quickly and decisively. Poking him down and whittling at his HP means that he will never be able to reliably dive as his Illusions will be too weak to be of any use to him.

9. Pre-Illusion Master, Samuro's Illusions will often move in similiar directions as one another, so try to be aware of this and focus the Samuro who is performing the most unique action. Have at least 1 Hero on your team with some way to Reveal, and use it as soon as Samuro pops Mirror Image. This either forces him to back off or catches him out of position to get quickly focused down.