Winning matches in Heroes of the Storm is all about understanding the different characters in the game and using each of them to the best possible effect. There are several different types of characters in the game including assassins, warriors, specialists, and support.  While characters fit into specific roles, each character plays very differently from the others and that is where this guide comes in.

Malfurion – Basics

Malfurion is a character from World of Warcraft, and dates back to Warcraft III.  In Heroes of the Storm he is considered a Ranged Support character.  Malfurion can be used to provide support in multiple ways to your group.  He can be built to focus on damage, CC, or healing.  While he can do everything well, what he really excels at is providing healing to your group, so make sure that you take at least some healing talents.

Strengths

  • Good healing over time with Regrowth, and awesome group healing with Tranquility.
  • Good CC in the form of Entangling Roots.
  • Long range damage and reveals with Moonfire.

Weaknesses

  • No instant heals
  • No movement abilities or escape abilities
  • CC and healing has delays which are hard to time right

Cost: 2,000 Gold or $3.99 USD

Malfurion – Abilities

Regrowth (Q) [7 second cooldown] – Heals a nearby ally for a small amount instantly and roughly 2.5x that amount over the next 10 seconds.

Moonfire (W) [3 second cooldown] – Deals damage to enemies in the AOE and reveals them for 2 seconds.

Entangling Roots (E) [12 second cooldown] – Roots enemies in the AOE for 1.5 seconds and deals a small amount of damage over that time.  The AOE grows for 3 seconds.

Tranquility (R) [100 second cooldown] – One of the two Heroic Abilities you get to choose from at level 10.  Tranquility heals all nearby allies for a small amount every second for 10 seconds.

Twilight Dream (R) [90 second cooldown] – One of the two Heroic Abilities you get to choose from at level 10.  Twilight Dream deals a significant amount of damage to all enemies around you and silences them for 3 seconds.  There is a short delay from cast time to damage effect.

Innervate (R) [30 second cooldown] – Grants a targets allied Hero 100 mana over 10 seconds.

Malfurion – Talents

Every hero in Heroes of the Storm has several talents that they gain access to as they level in each match.  Rather than look at every talent here, we will focus on the best at each level.

Level 1

There are two good options at the start for Malfurion, Conjurer’s Pursuit or Moonburn.  I prefer Conjurer’s Pursuit since Malfurion tends to have mana issues with all the healing and moonfire you will be doing. This talent boosts your mana regen based on the number of healing orbs you pick up while pushing lanes, and really helps throughout the game.  If however you do not mind returning to base often or are extremely good at managing mana, then Moonburn can be worth it as well.  I have found it to make pushing lanes or dealing with mercenaries much easier, and is a huge help on maps with minions to kill like Haunted Mines, Blackheart’s Bay, or even Sky Temple. The issue is that Malfurion (for me at least) should be healing not DPS’ing.  The talent really is awesome though, and worth considering on those maps or with a group with a second support character.

Level 4

At this level, Protective Shield is the strongest option hands down.  It allows you to protect someone on your team in an emergency, allowing you more time to heal them (or yourself).  This is extremely useful since Malfurions heals are all HOTs (Heals over time) and can almost be thought of as an emergency heal.  If you are going after offence then Vengeful Roots is a great option.  A third option that I see many players taking is Healing Ward.  Please don’t, that is what you have Tranquility for at level 10, Protective Shield as an emergency save is far more important.

Level 7

At this level you again only really have two choices.  If you are going for healing then Enduring Growth is what you need since it boosts your healing output by 60% by making it last longer. If you are going after more offensive ability then Strangling Vines should be your choice.

Level 10

At this level you gain access to either Tranquility or Twilight Dream.  Tranquility should be your go to talent at this level as it can save your group in a fight by healing everyone at once.  It is however not instant and not huge, therefore you need to use it much earlier than you may think you need to.  In random games it is a huge ability and can save many players their lives.  However, since it is healing everyone equally and not for a huge amount, if you are in team fights against pre-created teams, then it starts losing its power.  Enemies will focus down single players and kill them off without Tranquility doing much to help.  If that is the case, the take Twilight Dream to deal some damage to help your group deal with them. 

Level 13

At this level you gain access to 3 really great talents and it is hard to chose between them.  You get Life Seed, Shrink Ray, and Full Moonfire to pick from.  Life Seed applies the HOT portion of your Regrowth onto a nearby ally when you cast Regrowth on someone else once every 15 seconds.  This dramatically increases your healing output and is free, so not something to skip.  If you are going for damage, then Full Moonfire is amazing as well.  It increases the AOE by 50% and makes it cheaper to cast.  Then comes Shrink Ray, which is an insanely powerful ability and makes the other ones very hard to justify, no matter how good they are. Shrink Ray reduces an enemy hero to half size and lowers their damage and movement by half as well for 4 seconds.  This may seem like a short amount of time but it effectively removes one enemy from the battle for that time which both lowers the damage that your team is suffering allowing your team to finish off that person or someone else on the enemy team, or allows you to escape from the enemy if you are alone.

Level 16

This level gives you access to another three great talents.  Hardened Focus allows you to use your abilities more often as long as you are not being hit.  If you are good at weaving in and out of combat and staying near full health, this talent is HUGE!  You can also take either Tenacious Roots of Hindering Moonfire to help with CC at this level.  Both are really good at what they do, but I prefer Hindering Moonfire as I tent to use Moonfire more often.

Level 20

The top level talents that you gain access to are a mixed bag.  Nightmare doesn’t offer much in the way of a boost to Twilight Dream and should be skipped.  Serenity is OK, but not extremely great, which leaves the generic abilities.  Bolt of the Storm offers you an escape which is really useful if you find yourself trapped by the enemy a lot, or if you want to escape retaliation after using some damage on them.  Storm Shield is my go to talent at this level though, as it provides some added time for your healing to work on everyone near you.  I find that waiting until my group is near 50% health in a team fight, then using Storm Shield and Tranquility right after each other can stop incoming damage briefly and heal everyone back up to survive the fight.

Malfurion – Strategy

Malfurion can be a whole lot of fun to play as he can help out in so many ways.  The most important thing to keep in mind though is that you need to partner up with someone to be the most effective.  Since Malfurion can deal damage and heal, if you are just doing damage you are missing out on half of your abilities. 

At the start of a match, you should look for an ally that could use some help with a lane and head there.  This should be any character that is damage based but could use some help in the early game.  Keeping the squishy characters alive and pushing a lane can really help.  It is important to know when to switch lanes and characters though, if someone is having issues staying alive, head there.

Throughout the match you can help by keeping people alive and by helping to pick off annoying enemies.  Moonfire is amazing and helping to kill off Nova or any other enemy with stealth and can really turn the tide in a battle. 

The late part of a match generally revolves around group fights and big pushes, and that is where Malfurion really starts to come into play.  Hanging out near the back of your group and tossing heals at everyone will help your team get the advantage, especially with talents like Enduring Growth and Life Seed.  Combine that with Tranquility and Storm Shield and you can keep your whole team up through a lot of incoming damage.  While healing everyone, make sure you are ready to use Entangling Roots and moonfire to help setup a kill any time you can. 

Lastly remember that you need to be prepared to escape at a moments notice.  You have low health, no escapes, and are a great group healer, which all makes you a prime target for your enemies. Stay near the back of the group as much as you can and make sure you keep enough mana for a heal on yourself, and potentially even a shield as backup.


Be sure to visit our complete Guide Portal for Heroes of the Storm for more Hero Guides, updated Tier Lists, and more. To read the latest news, features, and eSports coverage you can also visit our main Heroes of the Storm Game Page.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Heroes of the Storm Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.

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