Heed the Highlord - Alarak

Recently, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing Alarak, so I thought I would write up a bit of my thoughts on the hero, and some of the builds/playstyle. I'm trying to create a bit more content, and am new at this so it might be a bit rough :)

PlayStyle

Alarak can be a solo laner or be within the four man, generally I think he is a better fit as a four man hero like Zeratul, Medivh, and Genji. He can be considered a “roamer” that can split off from the group to help and look for opportunities and kills elsewhere, along with covering the off-soak.

In the Solo Lane

I think in most scenarios, against most solo laners I would prefer to freeze the wave by your tower. What this means is that, the enemy minions will be on your side of the map, closer to your towers, but isn't being hit by your tower. Most Solo laners have the ability to fast clear and double soak lanes, Alarak’s wave clear is limited in comparison, so if they rotate out to other lanes, this also allows them to miss soak on your lane.

This also forces the enemy solo laner to feel less safe because he is more vulnerable to gank being on your side of the map to soak. If he attempt to step up to clear the wave, you can utilize your combo to pull him into the towers and silence him. Even if you do not end up getting the kill, you will be able to chunk him for a huge portion of his health if he was hit by the towers, allowing you to win the lane easier while your wave is being built up to push for later on.

Alarak is also one of the heroes that have a lower health pool in comparison to other Solo Laners. His mobility relies purely on his telekinesis, so if you ever use it on the lane you are skeptical to gank or potentially dying on the 1 vs 1. Hence is also why I recommend freezing your wave near the towers.

In the Four Man

Alarak is a strong four man hero because it allows him to stack up more of your quest and gain sadism. He also got good play making potential, and easy follow up for CCs. Generally, he has a similar playstyle as to a four man Zeratul, Kerrigan, or Genji. However, if you want a good four man it is best to get a hero who can follow up and have enough wave clear in between the lanes.

Best Maps

Battlefield of Eternity - Laning phases are limited to two lanes, allow alarak to focus on stacking in one lane without the need to worry about rotating or getting caught during rotations. Easy combos during immortal fights, and can use immortals to help set up a follow up stun.

Tomb - Small map with lots of tiny nooks and chokes for alarak to fully shine with his abilities.

Alterac Pass - Alarak is really good for stalling out the alter cap between his abilities, the area is ideal for him to continue stacking up his quest as well.

Standard

https://heroeshearth.com/builds/Droplets/standard-alarak-build/

This is the standard build that I would recommend for everyone who is interested in the hero.

Alarak is generally pretty squishy, and revolves heavily around your sadism. This build will minimize the loss of sadism as you would not lose your progression of your level 4 quest. The Level 4 quest also scales insanely well to the late game if you are able to consistently land multiple lighting surge. Therefore you are still able to make plays when you don't exactly have high sadism count.

For reference, this clip illustrates this build with the game ending in a team wipe and 71 stacks on Level 4 Quest, and 117 Sadism.

https://clips.twitch.tv/TubularPricklyOkapiKippa

Burst Build

https://heroeshearth.com/builds/Droplets/q-build-2018-08-01/

If you are able to land 3 man Discord strikes and Lighting surges, along with stacking up a relatively good sum of sadism this is generally a pretty good build. You are able to easily one shot an enemy hero (Generally a backline).

Deadly Charge Vs Counter Strike

I prefer Counter strike 95% of the time, because it is a short cooldown self-shield with a huge burst potential. Deadly Charge can be good in situations, but you must charge it up (generally out of vision) and realistically in a team fight it's hard to channel that ability mid fight, and it is one less self safe mechanic considering how squishy Alarak is.