Heroes of the Storm: Raynor Walkthrough [Guide]

One of the more basic characters to play in Heroes of the Storm is Raynor, who hails from the Starcraft universe. Like Tychus, Jim Raynor is a ranged assassin that is pretty easy to control, and he is recommended for those just starting the game. With a good combination of damage potential and some devastating abilities and talents, Raynor can bring any opposition down for as long as he has the right team by his side. Here is our guide on how to make the best out of The Renegade Commander, Jim Raynor.

Introduction
Jim Raynor was a Confederate Marshall who had been hailed as a hero as he fought against the zerg when they tried to invade the planet. However, he was imprisoned wrongly and was freed by the rebellion, where he then chose to switch sides.

Throughout his adventures, Raynor has fought with and against different personalities such as Arcturus Mengsk and Sarah Kerrigan, The Queen of Blades. It is through these alliances and rivalries that he has experienced both sweet victory and bitter defeat. Over the years, he has also taken mercenary jobs in order to keep his outfit running and in order to keep his cause alive. Despite the odds, however, Raynor is still relentless in his fight to uphold justice and freedom.

Items
Raynor is armed with a very big gun, and he is able to use this weapon to inflict tremendous damage from afar. Raynor also has the ability to call upon different items such as the Hyperion and Banshees that would help him attack single or multiple targets for high damage. Raynor also has other armaments as well as have the ability to inspire others, boosting their abilities and his on for a limited time.

Build Guide
Lead from the Front, Raynor’s trait, allows him to reduce his cooldown time. If enemies are killed by others immediately after taking damage from you, ability cooldowns are reduced by one second. Direct enemy kills will reduce time by 10 seconds. This ability is best for when there are lots of minions with low health around as this will allow you to continue your assault for as long as you have mana.

Raynor’s three starting abilities are Penetrating Round, Inspire, and Adrenaline Rush. Penetrating Round (60 mana cost, 12 seconds cooldown) deals damage to enemies and knocks them back. On the other hand, Inspire (50 mana cost, 15 seconds cooldown) lets Raynor gain increased attack speed and damage for 8 seconds while nearby allies gain half the bonus. Lastly, Adrenaline Rush is a passive ability which lets Raynor automatically heal once Raynor is below 30% health. This ability activates every 45 seconds whenever applicable.

As for hero abilities, Raynor can use either Hyperion or Raynor’s Raiders. Hyperion lets Raynor call upon a ship that will deal damage to four random enemies within its path. The ship will be present until four enemies have been hit or after 12 seconds, whichever comes first. Raynor’s Raiders, on the other hand, will have Raynor call upon two cloaked Banshees which will attack Raynor’s targets twice each. Both starting and hero abilities can be enhanced by choosing the appropriate talents while new ones may be made available as well.

Raynor can be built either as a damage dealer or as a pusher. Both builds can be used for offense based strategies, although the former would be more recommended if you want to get more kills while the latter is better if you want better positioning and if you want to better control the battleground. The build below is the one recommended for a damage enhanced, tanky Raynor.

Give Me More! – increases healing of Adrenaline Rush by 50%

Focused Attack or Vampiric Assault – Focused Attack allows for 50% increased basic attack damage every ten seconds with further reduction with each basic attack. Vampiric Assault lets Raynor heal for 15% of basic attack damage dealt.

Fight or Flight or Heavy Ammo – Fight or Flight cleanses all movement impairing effects when Adrenaline Rush is activated and makes Raynor immune to damage for 2 seconds while Heavy Ammo increases the knockback distance of Penetrating Ammo and deals additional 100% damage to structures.

Hyperion or Raynor’s Raiders – deals damage to enemies. Choose Hyperion if you want more damage to multiple random enemies and choose Raynor’s Raiders if you want to focus on a specific target when attacking.

Giant Killer or Activated Rush – Giant Killer allows Raynor to deal extra damage to heroes during basic attacks equal to 1.5% of the target’s max health while Activated Rush allows Adrenaline Rush to be activated manually and also reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds when done so.

Any Talent under Tier 7 – Executioner lets Raynor deal 40% damage to slowed, rooted, or stunned opponents while Cluster Round increases Penetrating Round damage for each additional target hit as well as increases its with. Bullseye will stun the first enemy hit by Penetrating Round for 1 second and deals 50% more damage to that unit. Lastly, Berserk gives Raynor 40% attack speed and 10% movement speed for 4 seconds (ability, 60 seconds cooldown)

Fury of the Storm or Battle Hyperion – Fury of the Storm gives 50% bounce damage to basic attacks while Battle Hyperion increases the damage potential of Hyperion hero ability.

This build focuses more on Raynor’s abiity to deal and take damage. Offensively, Penetrating Round and basic attacks will be enhanced while health is maximized by improving on the Adrenaline Rush and health regeneration abilities.

The next build is recommended for those who would like to move forward as a team. Like the above, it reinforces the knockback ability of your Penetrating Round ability as well as boosts Inspire ability and damage against structures.

Demolitionist or Bribe – Demolitionist allows Raynor to destroy one ammo and deal 10% more damage when performing basic attacks on structures while Bribe allows him to instantly defeat mercenaries by collecting bribe which are in turn earned by killing minions.

Advanced Optics or Quick Fingers – Advanced Optics increases attack range by 20% and sight range by 10% while Quick Fingers doubles the cooldown reduction of Lead from the Front

Heavy Ammo or Revolution Overdrive – Revolution Overdrive improves on Inspire by adding 10% movement speed to Raynor and 5% movement speed to nearby alllies

Hyperion or Raynor’s Raiders – same reasons as above

The Art of War – Nearby enemies are slowed by 10% when attacking and moving when Inspire is used

Cluster Round – damage and width is increased for Penetrating Round

Fury of the Storm or Battle Hyperion – same reasons as above

The build above lets you control your position more effectively, and it also allows you to take on and destroy structures with relative ease. Take note that some health buffs are missing, however, but your enhanced support abilities will make up for it especially if you have teammates surrounding and supporting you as you push forward.

Strategy
Raynor is a ranged assassin, which means that he can attack from afar but cannot take as much damage as he can deal. With that, being at a safe distance is required as powerful melee attackers can take him apart easily, even with the Adrenaline Rush ability enhanced. It would also be wise to have someone to run with, especially since your ally would also be able to benefit from your Inspire ability. If you feel that you are going to get overrun, then Penetrating Round is your safest option so that you would be able to knock them back, giving you more time to escape or to buy yourself some time until reinforcements arrive.

Pros and Cons
Raynor has a very limited attack set, but he has abilities and talents that can support himself and his team. He also has mediocre hero skills as compared to others, which is why he would have to rely on more basic abilities. His Lead from the Front trait is great especially if there are a lot of enemy units around, although players must certainly keep an eye out on his mana so that abilities can be triggered when needed. Lastly, his Adrenaline Rush ability makes him hard to kill, unless of course he is ganged up upon. Thus, using his attack range and knockback abilities is certainly a must in order to keep powerful attackers at a distance.

Tips and Tricks
Always keep your enemies away, but your allies close by. This will allow you to take full advantage of either Penetrating Round or Inspire. While Raynor can handle things on his own against even a powerful opponent, getting cornered from all sides will definitely chop down his health quite easily. With that, make sure to always have someone to watch your back and to help you out when you get surrounded. Getting the Art of War talent is also recommended so that you can take advantage of slowed enemies to either escape or lay down the hurt on them with you having even higher stats than normal.

Out of the two hero abilities, Hyperion is more recommended even despite its random attacks. When the Hyperion Overdrive talent is chosen, it can even deal additional damage to structures in its path. Use this ability only when Penetrating Round is not a more feasible option. Otherwise, you’re better off spending your mana on the latter rather than on the former.