Brightwing hasn't been a top tier healer for a long time, however she has a strong match up against Li-Ming which just might push her to competitive viability.

I usually don't like playing support heroes in my quick match or Hero League solo ques. I feel like my impact on the game is minimal and I am largely dependent on my teammates to play well. When I play support, I am relying on my teammates to run towards me when they are going to die, I am relying on my teammates to peel for me when I  get dived. I am relying on my teammates to kill the enemy. All of these things turn repel me from the role.

However, lately I've had to rely on something else from my teammates: their capacity to not be killed by Li-Ming. Normally, I would solve this by choosing an burst style assassin to kill Li-Ming before she gets off any abilities, but the most popular builds for Li-Ming specialize in safe poking making it hard to ever get the jump on her. On top of this, players are beginning to realize that, once you have a Li-Ming on your team, protecting her at all cost is an easy path to victory.



So apart from just playing Li-Ming my self every game, I've discovered a solution that's been working out pretty well. It's a solution that has a targeted, unavoidable silence that interrupts Disintegration. It's a solution that can grants a single ally (eventually two allies) protection from 50% spell damage on a 10 second cool down. A solution that doesn't fight the losing battle of trying to out the incredible burst damage Li-Ming dishes out and, instead, opts for aggressively disrupting the fragile wizard at every turn.

That solution, is Brightwing.

The best and brightest

When I play Brightwin(g) against Li-Ming, I feel powerful and in control of a team fight. Polymorph is so effective against Li-Ming because she can't avoid it with Teleport and it silences her. It provides a large target on her head and allows your team (who usually spend the majority of the game cowering in fear of her) to burst her down.

As ranged support (who can use Pixie Dust to easily dodge Li-Ming's abilities early game), Brightwing is a surprisingly strong lane against Li-Ming as well. Recent buffs to Arcane Flare gives you a respectable amount of wave clear, and Brightwing's passive healing allows for moderate of sustainability even if you get hit by the occasional magic missile.

But Li-Ming really starts getting crazy when she gets level 10 and has access to disintegrate. This is where Polymorph starts to shine. This, combined with Blink Heal can shut down Li-Ming's attempts at starting a Critical Mass related snowball.

Simply Blink Heal on the target Li-Ming is trying to murder (placing you well within range of a Polymorph) and shut down any Disintegration beam related deaths that may have happened. Very few supports can react this quickly in response to Li-Ming teleporting aggressively, and the short cool down of Li-Ming's heroics demands for an equally low cool down answer.

Shield Dust AKA why you are playing as Brightwing

So Brightwing is a reasonable choice against Li-Ming, but she becomes a hard counter the moment level 13 rolls around. Enter Shield Dust:

Shield Dust will allow you to quickly react and essentially negate a terrifying Li-Ming combo. Thanks to the slow nature of Li-Ming's most damaging ability, Arcane Orb, a quick Shield Dust can save your allies and, more importantly, stop Li-Ming's momentum dead in it's track.

Then at 16, Bouncy Dust comes into play, simply negating more ability damage for your team. The most important thing about these talents is they allow you to punish a Li-Ming who attempts to throw every single spell at one target, desperate for a Critical Mass reset. Once you can deny these resets with consistency (thanks to the low cool down on Pixie Dust), Brightwing becomes invaluable support hero in the current meta.

But wait, there's more

It's the little things that make the Brightwing vs Li-Ming matchup so positive. Casting Arcane Flare on a Li-Ming who is immobile due to Disintegration channeling and having it hit in the very center doing tons of damage- that feels good. Casting Polymorph on a Li-Ming that as already aggressively teleported next to your Melee Assassin- that feels good.

I almost forgot about Peekaboo! This innocuous little talent when used properly keeps Li-Ming in check throughout the entire game. Li-Ming's low health makes her constantly vulnerable, so her best option for approaching the enemy is to do so in the shadows and out of sight. Li-Ming likes to stay way in the back of their allies, running in and out of shaded areas so the inevitable Arcane Orb / Ess of Johan / Magic Missile combo is harder to dodge. Peekaboo! shines the spotlight directly on Li-Ming, giving her no real safe area to start a team fight in.

OK friend...

Brightwing still has her weaknesses and if you are slow on your Shield dust's / Polymorphs, you might start to feel useless. However, with some practice Brightwing's high mobility and disruption tools throw sizeable wrenches in Li-Ming's plans to kill your entire team. If you haven't tried to play Brightwing, I think the current meta is a good time to start.

Besides, all that Shield Dust bouncing around is still pretty effective against enemy Kael'Thas's (especially when they are fool enough to take Pyroblast)

Follow us on twitter @GosuGamersHoTS for more eSports news