Overview

Terra is a powerful melee Guardian that utilises a variety of skills to control the battlefield. With an invaluable Passive ability that grants immunity to knockups as well as causing her basic attacks to slow targets, she can position herself to harrass and defend her team with ease. Despite being a Guardian, she has a surprising amount of utility and mobility. She can double-dash thanks to Force of Nature, slow and stun with Crushing Earth and protect her allies through Monolith (healing) and Terra's Blessing (movement speed and cooldown reduction). All in all, she has a highly supportive and flexible kit that suits most compositions. 

Updated: 05 August 2016

Lore

Terra Mater, quite literally the mother Earth, rests dormant beneath every living thing. Upon her flesh, trees stand like hairs, rivers weave like veins, and oceans lap against her sides. Long has she slept; since her son, the Titan Saturn, was cast down by his own son. It had all gone so wrong.

At the forging of creation, Terra was split from all other primordial matter to form the earth. Above her, Ouranos, the sky, suspended angelically. She loved him immediately and made him her king. Their children were Titans, beings even more powerful than they. In his fear and jealousy, Ouranos buried the Titans within the earth. Terra began to see the arrogance, the vanity, the hatred in her husband. Conspiring with her children, she freed them and overthrew Ouranos.

Youngest of the Titans, Saturn ruled next. Terra could not have been more proud, but prophecies claimed Saturn would be defeated by his children, just as Ouranos had. To prevent this, Saturn consumed his offspring. All but one. Jupiter escaped, and with righteous fury split Saturn open, unleashing his swallowed siblings. Violently, they defeated the Titans, Terra's children, and claimed the world as their own. Mournful of the children she lost, Terra slept. And ages passed.

But the ravages of a new war have scarred her skin. Her grandchildren, those arrogant, vain, treacherous Gods that stole the world from her son, those Gods, so reminiscent of Ouranos, bleed into her bones with every battle. Now, she finally rises from her slumber. She rises to claim the throne for herself.

Abilities

Standing Stones (Passive) - Any ability that you cast as Terra that creates a Standing Stone will provide you with a passive buff as long as it is still standing. The buff prevents you from being knocked up and also ensures that when you strike someone with your basic attack, that you slow them on hit. The exception to this - as far as I can tell - is Force of Nature does not create a Standing Stone but will destroy them when you dash through it. 

Tip - You should only really destroy your Standing Stones when you need the extra utility/damage. Leaving them standing is often far more useful.

Force of Nature (1st Ability) - Your only means of engaging or escaping from combat, Force of Nature will cause Terra to dash forwards in a straight line. The range is fairly long and she will deal damage to any enemies she passes through. If she has any Standing Stones, she has to use this ability to dash through them, in order to destroy them. When she does so, she'll gain an extra charge.

Tip - If you've destroyed a Standing Stone with Force of Nature, you have to use the free charge within 3 seconds. Charging through multiple stones does not grant multiple charges (cap of 1 extra) 

Crushing Earth (2nd Ability) - Your primary form of crowd control and area denial, Crushing Earth places two Standing Stones apart from one another. Enemies caught in between them will be slowed and if you activate them again, you'll stun all those caught in the middle for 1.5s. Should you shatter them, the damage will be dealt in a cone in front of Terra.  

Monolith (3rd Ability) - Once again creating a Standing Stone, Monolith is a heal over time, and a root if shattered. With a large radius, it heals for 25 per tick at maximum level. Considering the diameter of Monolith, it's invaluable during a team fight as it allows you and your team to be healed relatively quickly for a fair amount. It's also worth noting that if you do destroy the Monolith with Force of Nature that you cause damage over time to enemies affected.

Tip - Other players cannot destroy your Standing Stones. Only you can.

Terra's Blessing (Ultimate) - Buffing all her allies for 10 second's Terra grants them movement speed (30%), reduced mana cost for their abilities (100%) and increased cooldown reductions (40%). In addition to this, Terra also surrounds her allies with 4 stones. Once a player takes 4 hits, their stones will be broken and they'll be healed for up to 500. It's pretty insane and allows your team to easily snowball in a fight as it's a huge boost for damage and defence.

Tip - Terra's Blessing is global. If you know your team is fighting but you aren't there, using it can often be a huge help. 

Skill Order

Recommended Items

Tactics

Early Game

I wouldn't considering Terra to be a player-maker during early game. In fact, she's fairly squishy, doesn't bring huge amounts of damage and is pretty mana intensive if she's cycling through all her skills. Try to roam where possible and lane as much as you can so that you can itemize and secure the defences you need. 

Mid Game

At this point you should be coming online. You're a lot more "tanky" than you were and your skills are more powerful. If you've leveled up Crushing Earth early for the damage potential, you're also in a good position to be ganking with your team. It's also worth noting that by Mid Game, your Ultimate is a damn sight stronger. Making use of its benefits and the cooldown reduction it offers is key. 

Late Game

Like any Guardian at late game, your role is to protect, initiate and help secure kills. Use your stuns when you can, heal your allies during a team fight and ensure you have your Ultimate ready. I've found it's best to use it towards the middle of any team fight when the enemy team has took some damage. They'll still be retaliating and will trigger the heals for your team, while you'll be able to make maximum use of your cooldown and mana reduction. Alternatively, trigger the Ultimate at the very start to snowball. 

Matchups

These god threat levels (1 being lowest threat and 10 being highest threat) are to help you determine which enemy gods can give you a headache. For the gods listed here, take extra care as they're particularly dangerous for Terra. Similarly to Erlang Shen, Terra struggles against gods that keep her in place, or at a distance. If she can't get close enough to lay down her skills so that they can impact on the enemy, she's in trouble. 

Tips

This list of tips and tricks are just a handful of things we think will help your Terra play. We'll continue to add to the list as required and if you have any tips you'd like to share, let us know in the comments below and we'll place them here. 

1. You don't have to smash your Standing Stones. The Passive they give is great. You need to decide - do you need the slow and knockup immunity or the burst damage?

2. Force of Nature is your only tool for escaping or engaging. If you dive too deep with it, there's no getting out easily unless you've someone else with you. 

3. Monolith is as valuable as a zoning tool as it is for causing a stun. Use it in the jungle in close quarters to force players to move through it. 

4. If you can, try to position Monolith for maximum coverage. You want to drop it in the middle of a team fight if possible, or near the back so your team can retreat to it should they need it. 

5. Terra's Blessing is incredibly strong. It's global, provides tons of buffs and can allow any group huge amounts of power. Don't waste it - use it at opportune team fights. 

6. Crushing Earth can be double-cast quickly for an instant stun. Just place it and hit the skill again.

7. Your highest damage rotation is Crushing Earth followed by a double Force of Nature. If you can, it's also sometimes worth bursting through a Monolith to trigger the DOT damage. 

8. Try to get to mid/end game as quickly as possible. You can help early, but you're far better at the finish line.