We all know about Kael'Thas when he hits level 13 or Nova when she hits level 7 - these are power spikes we have grown to expect and see often. But what about the later surges in hero strength? The level 20 power spikes? Take a look at some of the strongest Storm Talents available and how they completely change a hero's presence during a match.
Only the most powerful, game changing heroics are up for discussion. Sure, Uther's Redemption is strong, but Uther would be just as strong without it. This list is about the heroes that are saved by their level 20 upgrades:
Li Li
Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Fu Hustle is the original "once-this-hero-gets-level-20-we-lose" talent and rightly so it underwent a big nerf many patches ago. Before, Kung Fu Hustle reduced the cool down of Li Li's abilities by a full 3 seconds every time she was attacked during Fast Feet, now it only reduces cooldowns by 2 seconds. Regardless, this talent is still a must have and is arguably the biggest reason for picking Li Li.
Once this passive is online, Li Li becomes an entirely different hero, constantly healing, blinding, and tanking damage easily.
Lt. Morales
Caduceus Reactor 2.0
Lt. Morales struggles with running out of mana and being focus fired constantly. Levels 1-19 she must constantly be aware of her positioning, lest she be killed immediately due to her fragile nature and non-existent escape options. She can't haphazardly heal her allies, lest she runs out of mana and becomes useless.
All of this changes once she hits level 20 and picks up Caduceus Reactor 2.0. Mana problems disappear thanks to 8+ mana per second regeneration, and surviving a team fight becomes much easier once you gain a x5 stacking 211 damage shield the second you aren't damaged. Similar to Li Li, this talent is why you play Lt. Morales.
Artanis
Targeted Purifier
Artanis is a little clunky. He does good damage, but has a hard time sustaining focus fire from the enemy team. He reminds me of Alpha Illidan - all the potential to be very strong but the numbers just aren't there.
Then level 20 hits and Purifier Beam becomes a major threat. A wipe your entire team threat. A WoW style raid-boss "please don't stand in the beam" threat. A simple YouTube search is all you need for evidence of this talents power: How many other heroes are capable of things like this based off of a single talent?
Gazlowe
Miniature Black Hole
Gazlowe is absurdly powerful in the right scenarios. Unfortunately, he is also extremely weak in most other scenarios. This creates an interesting tension of either feeling like the Gazlowe on your team is absolutely legendary or the sole reason you are losing. There is seldom an inbetween.
But once Gazlowe hits 20 and skills Miniature Black Hole, he becomes good. Real good. Good in a solid dependable way that Gazlowe only wishes he could bring from levels 1-19. It's hard to miss your combo when the radius of Grav-o-bomb increases by 50% and last I heard AoE stuns that clump enemies together are pretty good in late game team fights.
The lost Vikings
Ragnarok 'n' Roll
The Lost Vikings get really weak past level 13. If you haven't already won the race to 10 and secured a sizeable level lead for your team, The Vikings' lack of team fight ability becomes a real issue. Longboat Raid! is a much needed team fight ability but it's not why you choose the Vikings.
At 20 however, The Lost Vikings get access to Ragnarok 'n' Roll, an upgrade that doubles the DPS dished out by Longboat Raid! and increases the range of its mortar strike by 100%. If the enemy fights for the full duration of this ability, it's almost impossible for them to win.
Falstad
Epic Mount
Falstad is pretty good throughout the entire game and has a lot of talent diversity at his disposal. Even his level 20 Storm talents are all good in the right scenario, so the Epic Mount recommendation here isn't set in stone.
With that being said, Epic Mount is one of the most powerful talents Falstad has access to depending on the battleground you are playing on. On battlegrounds like Blackheart's Bay or Sky Temple, Falstad can singlehandedly win the game through aggressive objective control; no one can beat an Epic Mount Falstad in a race towards an objective.
Falstad can quickly defend minions on your core, split push without any danger and even pull off some amazing Mighty Gust plays by Epic Mounting directly behind an enemy team. The speed and versatility this ability brings to late game scenarios is simply unmatched.
Sgt. Hammer
Orbital BFG
If BFG wasn't such a situational heroic then we would see more Orbital BFG's in the nexus. However, the base version of BFG is so unimpressive, the strength of Orbital BFG is never enough to warrant gimping your hero.
The only real reason to ever choose BFG over Napalm Strike is when you think you can make it to level 20 and stall out the game through infinite Orbital BFG's. If you make it to this point, Orbital BFG can singlehandedly keep a lane pushed while chipping away at enemy structures. It's a powerful ability, just too impractical.
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