Heroes of the Storm – Raynor Guide

Welcome to the Heroes of the Storm build guide for Raynor. In this guide, you will find basic information on the game and Raynor, as well as tips on how to play and build him.

In Heroes of the Storm, Raynor is a ranged assassin. His kit allows him to buff allies while doing impressive amounts of damage.

Raynor should be paired up with a support or a melee warrior with crowd control when he lanes. Supports allow him to harass enemies without worrying about healing and the warrior allows him to destroy enemies while they cannot run away.

This guide will break down into five categories:

• Starter Abilities – The abilities your character starts with at the beginning of the match.
• Heroic Abilities – Pick from one of these two ultimate-like abilities at team level 10
• Talents – The character improvements you can choose from to custom build your hero
• Talent Builds – Recommended builds that I have personally found success with
• Playstyle Tips – Extra information about the character to help you play your best

Starter Abilities

• Lead from the Front (Trait)
• Enemies killed within a short time of being damaged by Raynor reduce the cooldown of his abilities by 2 seconds. Enemy Heroes killed reduce the cooldown by 20 seconds.

• Penetrating Round (Q)
• Cooldown: 12 seconds
• 60 mana
• Fires a high-powered round that deals 525 (107 + 22 per level) damage and knocks away all enemies.

• Inspire (W)
• Cooldown: 12 seconds
• 50 mana
• Raynor buffs himself for 20% bonus attack speed and damage for 8 seconds. Nearby allies gain half of this bonus while near Raynor.

• Adrenaline Rush
• Passive
• Automatically activates to heal Raynor for 960 (200 + 40 per level) when he is below 30% health. Can only occur once every 45 seconds.

Heroic Abilities (Choose One)

• Hyperion (R)
• Cooldown: 120 seconds
• 100 mana
• The Hyperion slowly travels forward, dealing 500 (120 + 20 per level) damage per second to a random enemy target in its path.

• Raynor’s Raiders (R)
• Cooldown: 100 seconds
• 100 mana
• Summons two cloaked banshees

Talents (Choose One from Each Tier)

Tier 1

• Path of the Assassin: Your Hero gains an extra 2 attack damage for every level gained.
• Demolitionist: Basic Attacks against enemy structures destroy 2 ammo.
• Give Me More! (E): Increases the healing of Adrenaline Rush by 50%.
• Bribe: Kill enemy minions to gain stacks of Bribe. At 40 stacks, activate to capture target Mercenary Camp. Does not work on Golems.

Tier 2

• Advanced Optics: Raynor gains +1 Basic Attack range and +1 vision radius.
• Focused Attack: Every 5 seconds, your next Basic Attack deals 50% additional damage.
• Vampiric Assault: Basic Attacks heal you for 15% of the damage done.
• Quick Fingers (Trait): Doubles the cooldown reduction of Lead from the Front.

Tier 3

• Heavy Ammo (Q): Penetrating Round knocks back further and deals 50% extra damage to structures.
• Revolution Overdrive (W): Raynor gains 10% move speed when casting Inspire, plus 5% additional move speed for each ally Hero initially inspired.
• Fight or Flight (E): Adrenaline Rush cleanses all movement impairing effects and makes Raynor unstoppable for 2 seconds.
• Searing Attacks: Activate to increase Basic Attack damage by 50% for 5 seconds. Attacks cost 20 mana per hit.

Tier 4

• Hyperion (R): Calls down the Hyperion which slowly travels across the battleground dealing 100 damage per second to a random enemy target in its path.
• Raynor’s Raiders (R): Summons two cloaked Banshees that follow Raynor for a short time and attack what he attacks. Each Banshee attacks for 2 volleys of 10 damage each.

Tier 5

• Spell Shield: Periodically reduces the damage received from Hero Abilities by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges.
• Giant Killer: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal an additional 1.5% of the target’s max Health in damage.
• The Art of War (W): Nearby enemies have their attack and move speed lowered by 10%.
• Activate Rush (E): Raynor can cast Adrenaline Rush at any time. Doing so reduces the cooldown by 15 seconds.

Tier 6

• Executioner: Basic Attacks deal 50% more damage against slowed, rooted, or stunned targets.
• Cluster Round (Q): Penetrating Round does 10% more damage to each additional target hit.
• Bullseye (Q): The first enemy unit hit with Penetrating Round is stunned for 1 second.
• Berserk: Activate to increase your Attack Speed by 50% and Movement Speed by 10% for 4 seconds.

Tier 7

• Fury of the Storm: Basic Attacks bounce twice to nearby enemies for 50% damage.
• Bolt of the Storm: Activate to teleport to the target location.
• Battle Hyperion (R): Hyperion now hits up to 2 targets every volley. Every 6 seconds Hyperion will fire its Yamato cannon at enemy structures.
• Hel’s Angels (R): Banshees remain cloaked while attacking and fire 1 more missile each volley.

Talent Builds

Pure Damage Raynor

• Path of the Assassin: Get yourself some more damage.
• Advanced Optics (P): This helps you finish off enemies that are running away.
• Revolution Overdrive (W): Lets you catch up to your enemies when they’re trying to escape.
• Either: Any of these are good choices. Raynor’s Raiders is good for single target damage while Hyperion is better for AoE and team fights.
• Giant Killer or the Art of War (W): Giant Killer is what you take when the enemy team has a ton of tanky characters; the Art of War is what you take otherwise.
• Any: All four of these are worth taking depending on the situation.
• Battle Hyperion (R) or Hel’s Angels (R): Take whichever one corresponds with your heroic.

This is the build you take when you have a healer in lane with you or someone that can shield you to mitigate damage. It exchanges survivability for damage.

Survival Raynor

• Path of the Assassin or Give Me More! (E): PotA gives you damage, but Give Me More will keep you alive longer.
• Vampiric Assault: Gives you some sustain.
• Fight or Flight (E): This will allow you to escape when the situation gets dire.
• Hyperion (R): Well placed Hyperion will most likely make your enemies run.
• Spell Shield: Mitigate enemy ability damage.
• Bullseye (Q): Stuns kill the enemy and keep you alive.
• Bolt of the Storm: Great for getting in and out of fights.

This is the build you take when you solo lane or are laning with another assassin or someone else without a heal. You will do less damage, but you will survive for much longer.

Raynor Playstyle Tips

 Well Rounded Penetrating Round

• Penetrating Round does some awesome damage, but it is a tricky skill to use right.
• Due to its knockback, you will want to save this for when you make an escape, when you’re behind the enemy and want to push them into your teammates, or when you know it will kill them for certain.

Hyper Hyperion

• One of the greatest heroics to use in a team fight.
• Forces enemies to scatter or suffer a ton of damage.
• Try to trap enemies with it for maximum effectiveness.