Esmeralda: Tank or Damage Build?

Greetings, fellow gamers! Recently, I came across a YouTube video by the skilled Esmeralda player 'Valesmeralda.' In this video, Valesmeralda dives into the advantages and disadvantages of two distinct approaches to building Esmeralda: as a tank or as a damage dealer.

I'd like to share the top Esmeralda builds from that video and provide some insights. Please note that I'm not a pro player; I'm just a casual gamer, hehe.

Esmeralda is a hero who thrives on close-quarters combat, which isn't exactly my cup of tea. I prefer heroes who can rain damage from a distance, hehe. 

Typically, she takes her spot in the side lane, thanks to her first skill's protective shield, which makes her quite hard to take down.

Esmeralda is a versatile hero who can be built as either a tank or a damage dealer. Each build has its own pros and cons, so it's important to choose the one that best suits your playstyle and team composition.

Tank Build

For the emblem setting, we still stick with the common support emblem in both builds (as it enhances her shield more effectively than the standard mage emblem), but with different setups. For the tanky build, consider these talents:

1. Agility for improved movement speed
2. Tenacity for increased resistance to burst damage
3. Impure Rage for enhanced mana and damage

Here are the items you can incorporate into the tanky Esmeralda build.

1. Warrior Boots 
2. Enchanted Talisman 
3. Dominance Ice 
4. Oracle 
5. Blade Armor

For the last item, you can bring Ice Queen Wand, Feather Of Heaven, Starlium Scythe or Blood Wings to the build.

When it comes to battle spells, you can choose between Purify, Flicker, or Sprint.

Pros:

Strong Early Game

The tank build gives Esmeralda more health and defense, making her harder to kill in the early game. This allows her to play more aggressively and trade damage with enemy heroes.

Good Team Support

Esmeralda with tank build has great defense. This makes her a valuable asset in team fights, as she can disrupt enemy formations and help her teammates secure kills by lowering their HP. She can also finish low HP enemies that already escape to their turret using her ultimate and at the same time still manage to survive from turret damage.

Effective Against Burst Damage

The tank build gives Esmeralda more magic resistance, making her more resistant to burst damage heroes such as Harley, Eudora or Aamon. This makes her a good choice for teams that are facing a lot of burst damage (one shot hero) opponents.

Cons:

Lower Damage Output

The tank build reduces Esmeralda's damage output, as she is focusing on building defense instead of using items that can give maximum damage to enemy. This means that she will not be able to kill enemies as quickly as she could with a damage build.

If your team struggles to secure kills in late, the game might become quite challenging to finish or maybe you're going to lose the game.

Vulnerable to Anti-Heal Items

The tank build makes Esmeralda more vulnerable to anti-heal items, such as Necklace of Durance (NoD), Blood of Heptasis (BoH) and Dominance Ice. These items reduce her shield regeneration and healing, making her easier to kill. 

That why, it is more difficult to secure the kills in late game because the enemies already buy one of that defense item. 

Damage Build

As I mentioned earlier, we are going to use the common support emblem for the damage build as well, but with these configurations:

1. Thrill for adaptive attack 
2. Weapon Master to increase damage from items and emblem
3. Lethal Ignition

If you see the emblem setting above, it really focuses on increasing damage.

For items, we focus on magic items such as:

1. Warrior Boots
2. Enchanted Talisman
3. Starlium Scythe
4. Feather Of Heaven 
5. Holy Crystal
6. Blood Wings

When it comes to battle spells, I believe Purify is the best choice as it can free you from crowd control effects inflicted by the enemy.

Pros:

High Damage Output 

The damage build gives Esmeralda more magic power and penetration, making her able to deal more damage to enemies. This allows her to kill enemies more quickly and easily.

As the game enter to the late phase, the damage that Esmeralda can give to enemy with this build even bigger so we still able to solo kill an enemy.

Can Counter Anti-Heal Items

The damage build gives Esmeralda more ways to counter anti-heal items. For example, she can build Holy Crystal and Blood Wings to give herself more thicker shields (If you want her shield thicker than this, don't forget to use basic attack to enemy or you can include Oracle to your build). So it can be a solution to counter enemy with Nod or BoH items.

Feather Of Heaven is also good to counter enemy who buy Dominance Ice to their build which can slow Esmeralda basic attack. As you already know, basic attack is important for Esmeralda in the fights. Feather Of Heaven can increase her basic attack speed which can balance the slow effect from Dominance Ice.

Cons:

Squishy Hero 

The damage build reduces Esmeralda's health and defense, making her easier to kill. This means that she needs to be more careful when positioning herself in team fights and avoid getting caught out of position.

We can use Esemeralda's first skill to shield herself before engage in a team fights. This will help you to survive longer. You can also use her ultimate first to get closer to the enemy before using the second skill. Don't forget to always use her basic attack, especially if you already buy Feather of Heaven which can increase the speed of your basic attack.

Always Pay Attention To The Enemy's Position In The Map

With this build, always take a look at the enemy's position in the mini map. If they were missing, it is possible that they are going to gank you. 

With low defense from the build, your Esmeralda can easily be killed, especially by the burst damage heroes.

With tank build, if you're get ganking by enemies, there is still a change for you to survive because of the defense items.

The best build for Esmeralda depends on your playstyle and team composition. If you want to give maximum damage to enemy, focus on magic damage items. If you are a defensive player, focus on tank items to increase your survivability. You can also combine magic damage and tank items for a balanced build.