Vainglory 1.19 - Lyra

Have you tried the new hero Lyra yet? I've managed to play her twice in battle royale... And so far I'm really loving the character. 

Since I'm holding out till she can be bought with glory, I can't try her in casual or ranked yet (and these days I don't even play those modes...).... I think she's a fantastic hero to get in battle royale though! Her magnificent healing powers keeps your team alive. And did I mention that she's a good killer too?

That's her basic info. With her basic attacks as well as arcane missiles dealing CP, there's no reason why you would build WP for this hero IMO. With great power comes... Fragility. Lyra is an extremely fragile hero with little armor or shield. At least she moves fast!

Her A skill is called Imperial Sigil. It's an AOE skill that creates a circular zone of healing (for allies) or damage (for enemies). The skill can be detonated right away, or left to run it's cause. The cooldown only starts when the sigil is gone though, so if you're say chasing a bunch of enemies down the lane, detonate it immediately if you've run away from the sigil so you can use it again sooner. I think it'll take a while for players to know what this skill does. I've play with lyra teammates who don't seem to know that this skill can heal - they only cast it on enemies far away, and not caring about their teammates who could desperately use some healing (battle royale mode). And I've tried to cast it on teammates who needed healing, only to have them immediately walk away. Like dude...? I did that for you! 

B skill - Bright Bulwark. It's kind of like Ardan's fighting ring, only better. Ok, this one doesn't stun when you cross the barrier, but it slows all enemies inside the ring, and movement abilities can't be used. Not an actively damaging skill like the A skill, but still useful to create sort of an area of protection.

Her ultimate skill, Arcane Passage. This skill belongs to the 'ultimate but not so ultimate' category to me. In the sense that I won't be maxing this skill. It's great for chasing enemies, or fleeing. Or getting your team into the middle of a battle... But that'll work only if you have a good, coordinated, team. Kinda hard to get if you solo queue. And in battle royale? The usefulness is somewhat diminished. It's certainly more useful for chasing rather than fleeing though, because enemies can also step through the portal to chase you after an all too brief delay.

My main point though is that there's not enough benefit to entice me to max this skill. A shorter cooldown and slightly increased range just isn't enough benefit. Better to max her A and B skills. I'll add her skills like I would for Krul/Ardan. Something like that:

A - B - A - A - B - U - A - A - B - B - B - U


Equipment wise... Definitely CP. But I really don't like specifying builds because it really depends on your play style, your teammates, your opponents, and what your opponents are building. Of course, the mode you're playing in makes a huge difference. I'd go almost all out with crystal damaging items on battle royale... Unless the opposing team is really strong and I'm dying too much. Then build armor or shield as per whatever the enemy build is. As a roam, you'll definitely want to pump her up with more defensive items.

I'll leave you with two videos, the Lyra Hero Spotlight, as well as my own Lyra gameplay video. I think I played pretty decently there... Ok, there were some totally stupid deaths... But it's good gameplay by my noob standards. That's all for now folks!

If you want to see more vainglory gaming videos, do check out my youtube channel! :P