Thats true but the attacker will want to avoid sending tiles into Alfrike unless he gets lucky tiles in the middle so its absolutely possible that onatel will fire first and if that happens she can prevent the enemy heroes to charge before Alfrike fires so when the mindless attack comes, most enemy heroes will have near full mana.
1 Like
So question @Homaclese does onatel’s steal mechanic sort of work like an increasing mana slow but instead of slowing their mana gain it’s going to onatel?
@Homaclese Is Onatel still relevant in this current meta? I pulled her in ToL after so many pulls trying to get one of the featured heroes and wondering if she’s worth ascending?
1 Like
Personally I think that for mana control purposes, definitely yes. I don’t have her though, so I might be just talking 
I just base my opinion on when I meet her on defense usually she is the first I want to kill and unless I block her mana steal with Garnet she can make me lose the fight. And I also base my opinion on seeing how effective Renfeld is in 3* tournaments. But as I was saying, I did not test her directly on offense and on defense she can be killed easily, so my opinion could me talking
4 Likes
Thanks for your opinion as always, I mean you might not have her but you can still speak from your personal experience 
2 Likes
I’m not @Homaclese but I would say, still extremely relevant.
She is an absolute goddess. For Pvp I now like her even more than Hel, which means something considering that Hel was my favorite hero for years.
She has a great element link and a great family bonus, so if you have other hotm from her year, there can be built really nice teams.
For towers she probably climbed back on the throne after the Xno-Tower nerf. She fires every round because of the mana steal and the enemies fire pretty much never because they don’t get mana. I don’t think I have ever seen a boss fire on charge 2 or 3 in the tower events when I used onatel.
She is not the best yellow def hero around and she is not great for event top scores but good for just finishing. And she is definitely not for titans with her low attack stats.
There are probably not many heroes I would max before her, definitely non I own. (to be honest at the moment I can’t think about anyone in yellow 
, but than a lot of the newer heroes are probably not on my mind)
10 Likes
Onatel will be relevant no matter the meta! I pulled her about my 3rd week playing when she was HOTM, and I dont think she has been removed from my defense since. I chose to LB her over all my other yellow 5* (Devana, Uraeus, Leo, Neith, Vivica, and Roc).
My favorite way to use her is in a yellow mono, or 3-2 stack, but regardless, I always take Li Xiu, and either Leo or Neith along with her. Onatel steals mana, and if I happend to have a big cascade of tiles in the first or second turn of mana steal, I have Li Xiu there to cut everyone back, and the Leo to really reduce the enemy closest to firing. Then for two more turns, Onatel steals more or ALL mana.
It can be a very fun way to play. I usually use the method I described against the strongest war opponent on the other side and usually with a very good result.
EDIT: I use her on defense because I also run 2 other 2019 HOTMs to get the max bonus and elemental link for all. Has been the best defense I’ve been able to come up with considering my roster and emblem availability.
7 Likes
If you mono yellow and can get Onatel’s hit tile special charge to 9 (emblems, mana troop), then you’ll like the elemental link healing for the yellows. Used her some in early very fast RT. The enemies charge quickly but then she does too. Won a few three hero raids with her, Drake and Guin.
She may go ok on a 3-2 control team as well. She was underrated when she dropped but never OP. May go well with a fast yellow sniper (cJoon or Poseidon) with the two specials killing an enemy.
1 Like
She’ll still be relevant, especially when xnolphod is being used
Oh that’s true, didn’t think about Xnolphod and I guess also a similar situation with Ludwig - she would steal the mana when he charges him and his nearby allies right?
OH yes she does. 
Just fire her before Ludwig, or dispel him. Works great. But I wouldn’t fire her directly on them again if she’s charged because than she will only steal 25% next round. Better fire on the 2 remaining heroes or not at all and steal as much mana as possible. Reduces the times Ludwig neighbors fire a lot.
2 Likes
Thanks @ferg, I do have other HoTM from her year so could definitely capitalise on the family bonus. My other yellows in queue for ascension are Sif and Eloise (and ‘maybe’ Uraeus or Sir Roostley) so just trying to figure out where she fits in.
Okay thank you! I can see she requires quite strategic play, looking forward to getting her to 3/70 and playing around with her a bit to get used to her mana function
She is really good, I got her from HA few months back and I was planning to level her but got wolfgang so I gave my darts to wolfgang. May be I will level her next if I don’t get any other awesome holy hero’s just to use in rush attack. That mana steal is great and can only be removed if caster dies, There are few hero’s I usually kill first (Alfrike, LOTL …) so onatel is the one I always kill first before she charge.
2 Likes
OMG! Congratulations on pulling her! I’m a bit jealous I have always wanted her…
3 Likes
She’s in my raid team I use almost every time. 3-2 with devana, onatel and Zuri. I might replace Zuri with Wolfgang once he’s leveled.
I have her limit broken with all but 1 attack node and she hits 860 attack without other heroes from that HoTM year (she still gets 10% attack from herself)
1 Like
The reduced duration of status effects in tower events really makes her shine. The only reason I haven’t maxed her yet is that I have loads of yellows who need the darts and I’ve had no trouble keeping her alive in towers at 3/70. She’s definitely close to the top of the queue though!
2 Likes
Onatel is amazing had her for a few years now and she’s never disappointed. Takes a little more strat but definitely a fun and solid special. Early in game I always confused her and Justice because of the veil but can’t make a mistake about that mana steal
2 Likes
I have her and I think she is still a great hero. Just a good hero all around as she fits in pretty much everywhere.
As others mentioned she’s great in PvE. Probably the best mana control available because she’s self sustaining. Often times you are delaying recasting her special a turn or two because you are all ready maxed but the previous cast isn’t done. For most bosses they accumulate mana so slowly they probably won’t even get a cast off and if they do it doesn’t really matter. You can combo her with a mana cut like Leo or a reckless attack hero like Zocc and ensure they never get an attack off. She’s not quite Xnolphod broken in towers but she’s not far behind there with her debuff starting off at the 75% drain.
In PVP she’s still really strong too locking down the other team so they can’t get specials off. She plays well with slower heroes. I regularly use her with Lady Locke and C. Azlar. Both are devastating but on the slower side in doing so due to their dot mechanics. Onatel really helps ensure they have time to destroy the other team. She’s not going to blow up the other team directly and there is a fair but of strategy in using her and maximizing her potential but she is a very powerful hero still because mana control is just fundamentally strong and she excels at that…
1 Like
Haha thank you, I usually pull HoTM each month but she was before my time (I started playing 2 months after she was released and Frida was my first, just missing out out Kunchen 
). I guess the question is would you rather have pulled Onatel or C. Drake??