Hall Of Heroes: Felicia

Felicia Lightwarden is the first ranged-focused hero to enter our character spotlight and is a favourite among newcomers and veterans alike. This is mainly due to her simplistic panel of active abilities which, when combined, have the potential to inflict over 50,000 damage in a single scenario. Needless to say, this figure easily outstrips the effects of even the most intimidating heroes currently available in-game. However, to brand the Bright Wizard as overpowered would be a wildly inaccurate assessment.

Unlike the majority of WoH’s magic users Felicia’s abilities are tuned toward area damage, therefore allowing her to target two or more enemies depending on the size and location of the AoE (area of effect.) For the most part Felicia’s area-targeting is her biggest advantage and can be used to engulf entire teams in a barrage of flames. However, when latched onto single targets or small groups most of that damage potential is lost. Those looking to counter Felicia will often use this to their advantage, rushing her alone or in a pair. Not only does this minimise incoming damage, it also imposes needless cooldown timers on Felicia, forcing her to rely on weaker abilities before her attackers move in for the kill. With a 0% chance to dodge, no amour, and a modest life bar of 1,000 hit points, she has one of the lowest survivability ratings going, making her an opportune target for those who excel at picking off stragglers.

Ability Type Base Damage Range Cooldown Effect Duration
Fireball Active [1] 20 65 ft
Fiery Blast Active [2] 65 65ft 5s  Knocks target away.
Rain of Fire Active [3] 30 (x3) 65ft 10s Snares enemies adjacent to target.  3s
Flame Breath Active [4] 15 (x3) Self 23s Deals 15 damage per second to all enemies stood directly in front Felicia. 3s
Conflagration of Doom Active [5] 22(x4) 65ft (Area) 30s Roots primary target for 4 seconds, dealing 22 damage to adjacent enemies for the duration of the ability.  4s
Fiery Burst Active [A2] 68 65ft (Area) 5s Deals damage to both target and surrounding enemies.
Annihilation Active [A5] 20 (x6) Self  30s Sets the ground alight beneath Felicia, damaging and snaring all enemies caught within the area. 6s
Murdered Passive [1] Felicia deals 15% more damage to Chaos enemies.

 
As clearly shown above, there are two different ways of employing Felicia’s abilities. The first, and much preferred, approach is to hang back and make use of her long-distance attacks, hammering away at opponents and allowing allies to scoop the kills. The other, more risky tactic is straddle between the centre and fringes of combat where Felicia can unleash some devastating close-range attacks. Doing so could increase her total damage though constant exposure, especially for a hero so fragile, is far from wise.

The most effective tactic is remain shoulder to shoulder with allied ranged attackers and healers; with her propensity to knock back, snare or even root incoming enemies, Felicia can always maintain a safe distance from her attackers whilst scolding them with her attacks.

[accordions] [accordion title=”Black Fire Pass”]

Although she isn’t exactly runner material, Felicia can still pull her weight when situated in Black Fire Pass. With it being such a large map, there will be the odd occasion in which you find yourself running into stragglers or, perhaps, an entire warband. Either way, it’s always best to tail an allied hero and stay clear of any obvious killzones.

Though not exactly her forte, Felicia will need to adopt a support role to ensure victory for her team. This can be done either by defending your own stash of runes or patrolling the two lanes that connect the enemy bases to your own. She can also come in handy when storming an enemy base, conjuring up an area attack and opening a path for allied runners.
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The Arena is where Felicia will feel most at home. Fearing isolation and a swift death, enemies will always cluster together for protection, presenting players with some killer area damage opportunities. The key here is to always monitor the direction in which the two enemy teams are moving and ensuring there is a safe zone to facilitate a retreat. Keeping an eye out for the coveted triple-damage power up is also key; unless protected by plate armour and/or an over zealous healer, Felicia can cut through an entire platoon with a fiery onslaught, instantly changing the course of a match.

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Tight spaces and narrow corridors is what makes the Pyramid of Settra the most perilous and unpredictable scenario for Felicia players. With no real “vantage point” to place herself in, it’s usually best to resign the Bright Wizard to her own base where can keep an eye on her team and provide supprot where needed.

When enemies attempt to steal relics from your stash Felicia can employ her Fiery Blast ability, dealing a fair amount of damage whilst knocking them back. Even against tank-like heroes such as Bax and Albodi this can make for an interesting play, keeping them away from relics long enough for allies to swoop in and slay the intruder.

[/accordion] [accordion title=”Mourkain Temple”]

Making sure you’re within a close proximity of your team is perhaps more important here than it is in The Arena. Mourkain Temple is littered with blind spots in which Felicia can find herself preyed upon by attackers with little or no chance of survival.

With that said the scenario does have a redeeming factor; due to Mourkain Temple being centred around the acquisition of nodes, these present Felicia with ideal target ranges for her area attacks.
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  • Burning Hot |Fireball deals 30% more damage.
  • Fiery Winds  | Rain of Fire lasts for an additional one second.

  • Agonizing Burns| Flame Breath deals 100% more damage.

  • Fiery Burst | Refer to table above (A2). Alternate ability that 68 damage to primary target and adjacent enemies.

  • Annihilation | Refer to table above (A5). Area around Felicia is submerged in flame, dealing 20 every second for 6 seconds. Also snares enemies within range.
  • Magmastorm | Perk that requires 25 consecutive kills. Ranged area attack that deals 1540 damage every second for 10 seconds.

Felicia can benefit under a number of different loadouts though, as always, you should really only slot masteries that help to boost her natural proficiencies. For instance, as a hero whose main goal is to deal high damage to multiple opponents, for scenarios such as Mourkain Temple and The Arena, you’ll want to equip masteries that increase the range and damage of her attacks.

A few interchangable loadouts can provide such an effect though the one we recommend is Fiery Burst, Carnage, and Assault. Upon contact Fiery Burst will deal damage to both its target and any surrounding enemies. Both Carnage and Assault directly compliment this mastery, not only increase its damage (and the damage of other abilities) but also creating a chance for amplifying the number of targets hit. When combined with Conflagration of Doom or Annihilation, this loadout could help rack a string of kills almost instantly.

Though useful in their own respect, hero-exclusive masteries such as Burning Hot, Fiery Winds, and Agonizing Burns simply aren’t as powerful as Carnage, Assault etc… unless you adopt either a mid/close-range or crowd control playstyle.

Tuned towards objective play, our second loadout option derives from the first rather nicely. Again, you’ll want to equip Fiery Burst but instead of increasing Felicia’s damage this time your loadout should include Maim and Massive Blasting. Though far from ground-breaking, this setup will allow Felicia to knock back and/or snare any opponents caught in her area attacks, creating a buffer between them and their goal.

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Felicia is ranged magic caster best used against large groups of enemies. She’s capable of clocking excessive damage totals though her lack of armour (0%) and middling health count (1,000) make her a prime target for those looking for a quick kill. Through slotting masteries, players can either mould Felicia into a decent yet over-exposed mid-range caster or increase the damage and potential range of her attacks.

As long as she is part of a well-balanced group, Felicia will be able to support allies from afar whilst making use of snares, roots and knock backs to throw incoming enemies off course. An ideal companion for Felicia would be Glowgob or, when closer to heat of battle, Aessa. Both characters offer a tremendous amount of support and give Felicia an added level of survivability, allowing her to avoid otherwise fatal instances.

Heroes that excel when countering Felicia include Conrad, Drulg, and others who are capable of silencing a target whilst dishing out plenty of damage. Due to the fact that all of her abilities are magic-based, silencing Felicia leaves her completely defenceless. Volrik also makes for a decent counter choice; despite taking 15% more damage due to Felicia’s passive ability, as long as he can pull her into the heat of combat, chances are, she’ll get caught in melee and killed almost instantly.

1 Comment

  1. Christ on a bike that’s a lot of stats Jim :)

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