Taara: Rumble in the Jungle

Build and Guide Taara: Rumble in the Jungle


Cheat Sheet
Quick Level:

Whirlwind

Steeled Focus

Colossal Smash

Talent:

Heal

Items:

Mantle of Ra, Gaia’s Standard, Hyoga’s Edge, Crimson Banner, Sonic Boots, Ancestral Glory

Arcana:

Indomitable, Benevolence, Mythril

Introduction
Taara is a mostly-armored barbarian who wields a giant hammer. She’s a Tank/Warrior hybrid who specializes in self-sustain through her Steeled Focus ultimate ability. She’s not the bulkiest tank but she excels at the un-tank-like roles of jungling, clearing lanes, and ambushing heroes. Her lack of mana management makes her well-suited for beginners, provided her health and damage levels are properly balanced.

Skill Build
Colossal Smash (Taara leaps into the air and smashes the ground with her hammer, dealing physical damage to enemies within range and slowing their movements speed by 30% for 2 seconds). Leveling increases damage, movement speed reduction, and reduces cooldown.

Colossal Smash has an okay range, but most importantly you can use it to leap over obstacles, turning Taara into a decent ambusher. The slowing effect will let you land a few solid basic attacks and follow-up with a Whirlwind before your opponent can get away. The lengthy cooldown means you might not get a chance for another Colossal Smash to catch back up to more nimble foes who don’t want to stick around.

Like most mobility powers you can also use Colossal Smash to escape a bad fight. Try to leap over walls to put more distance between you and your pursuers. If you’re trying to catch a fleeing foe, lead them with your Colossal Smash so you end up in front for maximum hammer time.

Whirlwind (Taara swings her hammer in circles, dealing physical damage twice to each enemy in range). Leveling increases damage.

Whirlwind isn’t a terribly exciting ability, and the damage doesn’t even seem that impressive, until you realize that it hits everyone twice. The real advantage is the super short 5-second cooldown, and the fact that Taara doesn’t rely on mana at all. Generally you should be using Whirlwind as much as possible. Whirlwind is also great for clearing lanes quickly, though Taara should be spending as much time (it not more) jungling for extra gold and XP.

One of Whirlwind's greatest assets is that it lets you attack while moving. Use this to your advantage by using regular attacks when you Smash into a foe, then Whirlwind when you start running after them.

Leveling it up ASAP will increase your damage output significantly.

Steeled Focus (Taara unleashes her potential, regenerating 8% of HP every second for 5 seconds and increasing her movement speed by 30%). Leveling increases the duration.

Steeled Focus isn’t the flashiest Ultimate, but having a built-in self-healing ability can prove invaluable for Taara’s survival.

Do not, I repeat, do not wait too long to activate it. If you’re being targeted in a big team fight chances are Steeled Focus won’t save you anyway, but better to activate it too early and not need it then activate too late and die.

Steeled Focus’ healing is amazing; at level 1 you heal nearly half your life. At level 3 (which you should absolutely be getting at level 12) you’ll heal ¾ of your HP. The catch is that it takes nearly 10 seconds for that to happen. You’re better off using the Heal talent if you need an instant jump in HP. Don’t forget that Steeled Focus also increases Taara’s movement speed. Even if you’re fairly healthy, you can activate it for a burst of speed to catch an escaping foe or flee a bad fight. Due to the 40-second cooldown you should always use Colossal Smash first, however.

Be very wary of entering any significant fight without having Steeled Focus available.

PASSIVE: Fighting Spirit (Gain 2-5 attack damage for every 1% of HP lost. Scales with level).

Taara deals more damage the less health she has, creating an interesting conundrum between staying healthy and dealing damage. Remember that you’re still a Tank/Warrior - damage isn’t necessarily your strong suit. Think of Fighting Spirit as a bonus damage boost, and not the goal. Health is still important and you should never enter a big team fight with less than 50% health unless you outnumber the other team. Fighting Spirit makes you an excellent jungler.
Items
Mantle of Ra (+80 Attack Damage, +330 Armor, Unique Passive: Deals 100 magic damage to nearby enemies every second, double damage to minions). Almost every melee hero in Arena of Valor covets the Mantle of Ra. Taara wants to be close to enemies for Whirlwind, and the Mantle’s constant damage ups your damage tremendously. Plus it works even better against minions and monsters, increasing her already great wave clear and jungling.

Gaia’s Standard (+180 Magic Defense, +1100 Max HP, +5% Movement Speed, Unique Passive: When taking damage regenerate 8% HP over 2 seconds, 10 second cooldown). We’ll be pumping up Taara’s HP to make her ultimate do more work. Gaia’s Standard gives you that, plus a bit of extra health regen and better defense against enemy mages.

Hyoga’s Edge (+100 Armor, +100 Magic Defense, +1200 Max HP, Unique Passive: Normal attacks increase your movement speed by 10% and reduce target’s movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds). Lots of health, armor, and a passive that will help you catch enemies.

Crimson Banner (+200 Armor, +1500 Max HP, Unique Passive: Restores 20% HP over 5 seconds after earning a kill or assist. 10-second cooldown). You’ll feel the big bump in HP and armor, and the health restoration will feel like your Steeled Focus is working overtime.

Sonic Boots (+110 Armor, Unique Passive: Movement Speed +60, Unique Passive: Reduce normal attack damage by 15%). Armor is good, movement speed is good, reducing incoming damage is great. Sonic boots are the defacto tank boots.

Ancestral Glory (+1000 Max HP, Unique Passive: Resurrect 3 seconds after death with 40% health, 3-minute cooldown). As a melee hero you’ll be targeted often and quickly, and Steeled Focus won’t be enough to offset coordinated enemy team damage. Ancestral Glory’s revive may just put you in a bad situation again, but sometimes can also prevent a very costly late-game death.

Recommended Talents
Heal (120-second cooldown, you and nearby teammates instantly recover 15% HP and gain 15% movement speed for 2 seconds).

Taking the Heal talent might seem redundant when one of your three abilities already heals you. But Heal is just too good on a Warrior to pass up. Plus it’s instantaneous, and heals your allies.

Arcana
Red: We’re looking for Hit Points and Armor. Strength (I), Pummel (II), Indomitable (III), Blood Lust (III)

Purple: Pumping Tara’s HP means more health from Steeled Focus, and life steal will help sustain you in skirmishes and the jungle. Life (I), Vigor (II), Vamp (II), Passion (II), Colossus (III), Reave (III), Benevolence (III).

Green: We still want HP and armor. Guard (I), Fortify (II), Endurance (II), Serenity (II), Mythril (III), Valiance (III)

Early Game
Fighting Spirit makes Taara particularly adapt at jungling right from the beginning. Start clearing all the small camps and help in lanes as needed. If you need to solo lane make sure you’re matched up with another melee hero, you’ll have a bad time trying to catch ranged attackers while they dance away from you.

Mid Game
Continue jungling whenever you get a chance. Steeled Focus lets you take on the bigger camps by yourself, but don’t neglect your team or your towers. You shouldn’t have to actually use Steeled Focus while jungling, it’s for topping yourself off afterwards so you can join the teamfights or lane pushing.

Try not to simply stick in one lane and push unless you’re sure no enemy ranged attackers are around. Your wave clear is good but most heroes will easily kite you, and you have to get very close to do any damage to enemy towers.

Late Game
Your primary goal in team fights is to stay alive. Activate Steeled Focus the second you start getting hit. If your team is with you and ready, use Colossal Smash to jump into the enemy team and beat them to death with your hammer, along with liberal uses of Whirlwind.

Taara isn’t exactly a stealth assassin but you can punish enemies who push too far. Ambush them with Colossal Smash. Try to time it where Steeled Focus not only begins to heal you when they retaliate, but also lets you catch up when they start running. Don’t engage in any fights without your healing options available.

FAQ/Tips
Barbarians have no need for puny mana. You should be constantly using Whirlwind as much as possible.



Colossal Smash should be used as your initiator and escape tool. Be wary of using it for extra damage unless you’re sure you won’t need its movement; even when maxed out it still has a 9 second cooldown.


Taara’s passive and general bulk makes her a champ at jungling, but don’t neglect your teammates’ pings for help.

Steeled Focus can be used to heal up and get back into pushing lanes or fighting, but sometimes it may be better to simply Recall and save it.

Try not to activate Steeled Focus when at full health but do activate it the second you’re being targeted in a late game fight - unless you’ve already safely disengaged.

Use both Colossal Smash and Steeled Focus to escape a bad situation. Better to burn cooldowns than die in the late game

Matchups
Ideally Taara isn’t the only melee hero on the team. She pairs well with at least one other Tank who can offset the amount of damage she’ll get by wading into large groups of enemy foes. She likes bulky, supportive tanks who can help keep her alive or slow/stun enemies, such as Thane, Toro, and Chaugnar.

Taara is susceptible to crowd control effects. Enemy mages like Kahlii, Krixi, and Diaochan can lock you down quickly. Use Colossal Smash and Steeled Focus to either escape, or charge in.

Generally avoid taking on Valhein by yourself. His incredible damage output will make your armor and health regen feel pitiful while you chase after him.