"My every breath is a strike waiting to be made!” - Samuro, The Blademaster

His blade yearns for vengeance, and nothing can stop him from sating its thirst. As the last remaining member of the Burning Blade clan, Samuro has tasked himself with restoring his clan’s honor by any means necessary, even if it means battling the deadly and fantastical foes found in the Nexus!

Read on for a breakdown of a few of his talents, a spotlight video, and some tips and tricks around drafting Samuro, The Blademaster!

Talent Highlights:

Way of the Wind – Having no self-sustain and no crowd control means that it’s imperative for Samuro to move quickly in and out of fights. With Way of the Wind, Samuro’s Wind Walk movement speed increases every time he uses it to strike an enemy Hero, with an added reward of increasing the amount of time he can remain in the “unbreakable” stealth state once the quest goals are met. Crushing Blows - Making the most of the windows of time Samuro spends out of Wind Walk will be critical in playing this melee assassin well. With Crushing Blows, those windows can considerably for deadly for the enemy team by giving Samuro a second charge of Critical Strike, and a little more damage on his crits to boot. Blademaster's Pursuit– Adding an additional 15% movement speed and doubling the duration of Samuro’s passive, Advancing Strikes, Blademaster’s Pursuit gives Samuro unmatched sticking power and chase potential past the level 20 mark. The deadliest blade is the one – or three – that you can’t escape.

Friends and Foes:

Works well with:

Abathur pairs well with most melee assassins, with Samuro being no exception. Samuro having a lack of self-sustain means Abathur brings some much needed help with Carapace and a few other survival-oriented talents. Abathur can also play his own mind-games with the opponents by Symbioting one of Samuro’s Clones. Needless to say, your enemies will be struggling to figure out how best to deal with this menacing duo. Auriel thrives by having a Bestow Hope target that can deal constant sustained damage. Since Auriel is given Energy through Samuro’s clones, they are a match made, in *ahem* Heaven. To further showcase their synergy, Auriel’s area-of-effect healing does a great job keeping both Samuro and his clones topped off nicely. One of Samuro’s main weaknesses is being able to stick to his target. Advancing Strikes helps in this area but everyone knows how dangerous it can be to chase an enemy too far. Heroes that bring lots of lockdown can give Samuro and his clones a much easier time sticking to their target. Everyone knows how game-changing a good Moshpit can be, and internally we have seen how particularly devastating they can be when followed up by a well-timed Bladestorm.

Struggles Against:

Nothing makes Samuro tremble more than this fire mage. Between large swaths of area of effect damage in Flamestrike and Samuro’s clones giving more targets to spread his dreaded Chain Bomb, Samuro will have to be very careful on how he engages and reacts to Kael’thas. Although a lot of people might not know this, Moonfire is also a revealer! This means that Malfurion can quickly start picking out the real Samuro from the imposters. He also brings both Entangling Roots and Twilight Dream, both of which are very effective at locking-down and eliminating the illusive Blademaster. Samuro lives and dies by his Windwalk ability, and if you can find a way to make that harder to use, you will fare much better against him. Lunara’s Nature’s Toxin does a great job of keeping the slippery Orc from vanishing and escaping. Although Windwalk makes Samuro unrevealable for 1 second, Lunara’s Toxin damage will break him out soon after.