Elemental Master Imani (Guide)
by Yoran Jhee
Splitting Ice
Frost Bolt bounces to an additional enemy.
Splitting Ice
Affinity
Reduce the Cooldown of Elemental Shift by 1-5s.
Elemental Shift
2
Draconic Will
Elemental Shift reduces the Cooldown of Frost Bomb and Inferno Cannon by 1-5s.
Elemental Shift
2
Pyretic Momentum
Frostfire Glide travels 5-25% faster.
Frostfire Glide
5
Swift Sear
Increase your movement speed while casting Inferno Cannon by 20-100%.
Inferno Cannon
3
Permafrost
Increase the root duration of Frost Bomb by 0.2-1s.
Frost Bomb
3
Guide
Hi everyone, I’m Yoran Jhee, a veteran Paladins player (I think I play since OB25 or so @_@). Maybe I’m not the best Imani around, but I managed to get a lot of practice with her since her release and I wanted to share the build I’m using, alongside a small (lie) guide. My Imani is level 50ish and I completely enjoy playing her, despite being a support main (seriously, she is the first damage champion I ever liked in this game).
Imani is pretty effective at fighting large groups of enemies and can quickly burst down single targets, when the time is right. Her ultimate is very strong, but easily countered, so I’d say she’s on a nice spot right now in balance. And being a black elemental mage that controls a freaking fire-spitting dragon is awesome on itself :D.
I’ve seen many people focusing on a single element when playing Imani, but I believe that the best way to use her is switching between Fire and Ice accordingly to the situation. So I tend to rely on Elemental Shift and its cards. If you learn how to be careful when changing stances and position yourself properly (and practice casting/controlling the dragon ultimate), this loadout is going to be heavenly useful for your team. Long wall of text incoming:
LOADOUT COVER:
TALENT - SPLITTING ICE: This talent makes Frost Bolt a potent damage spreading tool. Without it, I feel that Frost Bolt is patently inferior to Pyre Ball, sans Mana Regen. Take it to give Frost Bolt a niche: When fighting grouped enemies, attack with Frost Bolt, when dueling, use Pyre Ball. The other talents are very solid (Mana Rift when used right can be deadly and better than Splitting Ice) and this loadout also works perfectly with them, but they take extra practice that may scare away novice Imani players. So this is the safest option. The extra bounce causes 350 base direct damage to the nearest enemy from the target (it does NOT apply Slow or raise Mana though... too bad), but its range is a tad on the short side, so time shots properly. It feels awesome to kill a low-HP target that was out of sight by poking the closest enemy to it.
CARD 1 – AFFINITY Lv.2: This is to make Elemental Shift more readily available, but I don’t feel too many points are needed. If you take Chronos II, Elemental Shift will have about 6 seconds cooldown, which I think is quite enough. But it can be raised to your preference by taking points from Permafrost.
CARD 2 – DRACONIC WILL Lv.2: Remember that Elemental Shift’s cards take effect everytime you cast it, so you can take away 4 to 6 seconds of Inferno Cannon/Frost Bomb’s cooldown after casting them. If you buy Chronos item, Lv.2 on this card will be enough to cast said skills more frequently. Again, if you feel you need to raise levels, take points from Permafrost card.
CARD 3 – PYRETIC MOMENTUM Lv.5: One of Imani’s weaknesses is her little mobility. This card does wonders into solving that, transforming Frostfire Glide also into an escape, instead of just a positioning tool. After Chronos II, you will feel that Imani becomes quite mobile, so this is a very recommended, if not vital card.
CARD 4 – SWIFT SEAR Lv.3: Without this card, Inferno Cannon is just too dangerous to use because it roots Imani in place. At least Lv.3 on it will guarantee your cover if you miss and will allow you to pursue a retreating opponent and secure the kill. I feel that this card is a necessity to increase Inferno Cannon’s effectiveness, but Lv.3 or 4 on it is just fine.
CARD 5 – PERMAFROST Lv.3: This is the only card that I feel can be replaced on this loadout, because its effects are minor. But level 3 will increase Frost Bomb’s root to 2.1 seconds, which is plenty to get some free damage. If you want to replace it entirely, I would recommend either Ice in Her Veins (which allows a breather when escaping) or Ancient Duty (a bit higher HP). I had problems figuring out the usefulness of the remaining cards on Imani’s deck: The shield one has too high internal cooldown and too little protection to be useful, and none of the mana increasing cards can hold a candle to Mana Rift talent. I don’t feel that extra cooldown reduction on Frostfire Glide is needed either, but equip it if you feel you need even more mobility.
ABILITIES RUNDOWN:
(UNIQUE MECHANIC) MANA REGEN: Everytime Imani hits an opponent with any ability, she generates a small amount of Mana, which is shown as a light blue bar next to the targetting reticle. The bar fills up quickly even without Mana Rift talent, if you land regular shots. When the bar is filled, it will turn pearl white and two golden brackets will indicate it is ready. As long as the bar is pearl white, and the golden brackets are on screen, the first time you click on your LMB Imani will fire a free fully charged Pyre Ball or Frost Bolt shot in addition to the regular one in quick succession. If you don’t do it in time, your Mana bar will remain pearl white but the Mana will be steadily drained, until you hit someone again.
I feel this mechanic adds a lot of depth to Imani, since you need to time your shots properly when the bar fills up, or your free shot may be lost. If you are careful with it, Imani can dish out lots of single target burst damage (almost instant 2000 damage on Pyre Ball and two bounces on Splitting Ice!). Excellent mechanic, but it takes practice to use better.
LMB1 – FROST BOLT: Your Ice stance main weapon. Does not need charging and has a decent rate of fire (Koga makes it moot though), dealing 650 base direct damage per shot. What is special about it is that it adds a Slow to the target (I feel that it is around 30% slow for 1 second only, but I haven’t done my math). For sheer damage though you might prefer Pyre Ball instead. It becomes quite potent with Splitting Ice, so I take that talent to balance it out with the Fire stance. 4 landed shots will fill the Mana bar, which makes it much better than Pyre Ball to raise Mana Regen.
LMB2 – PYRE BALL: Fire stance’s main weapon. Requires charging, and in many ways it is similar to Sha Lin’s weapon, so you can use Imani as a ranged archer (damage falloff is almost non-existant), though the projectile speed is slower than an arrow. Pyromania Talent makes it quite strong: fire 2 uncharged shots first, and then charge the AoE shot. It has big damage falloff on the target area though, which keeps me from using the talent. Click to fire an uncharged shot, which will deal from 100 to 200 direct damage, or charge the button for 1.2 secs to deal 1000 direct damage. Use uncharged shots as finishers. It will take around 40 uncharged shots and 9 fully-charged shots to fill the Mana bar with it (yes I counted it), so if you want to fire double Pyre Balls reliably, you’d better use the other abilities first.
RMB1 – FROST BOMB: Your Ice Stance CC tool. It will root opponents in a wide area for 1.5 seconds (can be raised to 2.5 seconds with Permafrost card). Try to aim the reticle a little higher for it to reach farther. While you cast it and before detonating, you cannot use any other abilities. You can press RMB again to detonate it earlier, applying the full root effect, but for less damage. It will deal max 800 area damage to all targets after it is around 2 seconds in midair.
Use this to root multiple opponents or to escape from flanks. If you can deal free damage to stuck enemies, all the better. Its Mana Regen seems to vary depending on how long it took to cast, but it’s never above the amount of a single Frost Bolt shot, not mattering how many targets it has hit. Awesome ability.
RMB2 – INFERNO CANNON: Potent Fire stance’s burst damage tool, but risky to use. Without Swift Sear card, it will root Imani in place, so be very careful with your positioning when casting it. It is possible to deal over 3000 damage to multiple targets with it if you are very lucky. A nice trick is to fly up with Frostfire Glide and then cast Inferno Cannon on the unsuspecting enemy below (since when casting, Imani will stand aloft). Its Mana Regen is on the small side if you hit a single opponent, but if you target multiple ones (and equip Arcane Flame card) it may fill up the Mana bar by itself, but it is not generally worth it for this reason alone. Use Inferno Cannon as a finisher or to kill a half HP or less target that already used their escape ability.
Q – ELEMENTAL SHIFT: Use it to change from Ice to Fire stance and vice-versa. It has a 1 second cast time. Does not do anything extra by itself, but you can equip some cards on your loadout that provides it with nice effects. The difference between the stances I’d say, is that Ice offers CC and higher Mana Regen on its abilities, while Fire offers higher burst damage but less Mana Regen. I prefer to use the best of both worlds though, by changing stances mid battle when I see fit. Be aware of the cast time though, don’t change stances when facing the enemies directly!
F – FROSTFIRE GLIDE: Grants Imani limited flight, but too slow to use as an escape. Use it to reposition or to reach high ground in order to hide for an Ultimate. However, if you equip Pyretic Momentum card, it becomes much better, as speed > duration IMHO. With Chronos and maybe Discipline card Imani can become quite agile (nowhere as near as Evie’s Soar speed though). Using it to propel yourself before casting Inferno Cannon is a nice tactic as well. However you buff it though, I feel Imani is still not very mobile. Her playstyle is stationary as she fires from a safe distance.
E – DRAGON’S CALL (ULTIMATE): EGMORE VONTE, DRACON!!! So awesome. The longer lasting of all ultimates, as you can control the dragon for whole 20 seconds (justifiable, because you’ll take at least 5 seconds to send the dragon from Imani’s position until where the enemies are). 1 second cast time, after which Imani will be totally vulnerable stuck in place. If Imani is found and killed, the dragon is gone. If the enemy has max Bulldozer, the dragon can be quickly focused and killed (it is a deployable). Dragon’s damage is burst, so it is diminished by Burst Shields. So many counters that I feel that the ability isn’t overpowered at all.
The Dragon’s flight is a tad slow, and the range of the fire spit is not so good either. But it will drain a lot of HP fast if the enemy cannot escape. Dragon is easy to control and will enter in any space/door. Holding LMB will make flight speed slower, so if you want to reach a farther target, STOP FIRING and just move. Try to hide Imani in a good spot not too farther from where you want to attack, but safe enough from possible flankers.
The good thing about the ultimate is that it is a big distraction, that the opposing team will have to deal with in one way or another. The dragon just cannot be ignored. So use it to make the enemy team spread or to take them away from the point. I’m no longer trusting it to always kill, but as a lure and as a temporary wall. So I’ve been a bit reckless with it, because of all the surefire counters. For example, while Grover, Ash and me were on the point, I cast it uncovered anyway. The dragon materialized in front of us, shielding from damage and chasing the incoming enemies away while killing the nearest ones. Risky of course, but if you are creative and unpredictable, the ult can cause mayhem. But if you are obvious, the dragon won’t even move. So, good ultimate, but it has lots of requirements to use well.
ITEMS TO BUY (In order of importance):
CHRONOS: Now that it is fixed, Chronos will reduce the cooldown of all of Imani’s abilities. Have in consideration that Frost Bomb and Inferno Cannon have separate cooldowns, so it will take effect onto both. Since Elemental Shift is very important here, you will need at least Chronos II for the loadout to work, boosting Imani’s damage potential a lot.
MORALE BOOST: Since Imani’s ultimate is such a game changer (even if it doesn’t kill), I would recommend buying this. But if you see yourself holding the ult for too long because you can’t find a safe place to leave Imani, it won’t be so good, so pick something else.
WRECKER/BULLDOZER: Imani is on the high base damage side, so these are very good on her, if the enemy team has shields/deployables. Since she does not have a high rate of fire (and Splitting Ice does not debuff), I don’t feel Cauterize is a good pick on her. But I would buy it anyway if the team needs it.
KILL TO HEAL: Good one, since a good Imani will be successful at eliminating enemies, giving her more sustain. But do not put it too high on your list.
...And this is it! Sorry for the long text, but I think this became quite informative. Thanks a lot and see you in the Realm, Yoran ;*
