How to use Angela as a deadly support

Angela, not Estes, is the strongest healer in Mobile Legends
Apr 26, 2023
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The Comprehensive Guide on How to Use Angela in Mobile Legends
ILLUSTRATION: Abo Limos
Article Summary

This article was updated to include the June 2023 patch on Angela, the July 2023 updates on Emblem Sets, and the September 2023 patches on Angela. 

Angela ML 2023 Build

This article was updated to include the June 2023 patch on Angela, the July 2023 updates on Emblem Sets, and the September 2023 patches on Angela.


CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, Angela, not Estes, is the strongest healer in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Angela heals fast and is the strongest damage dealer among all Support heroes and healers—with the right build, of course.

In this guide, we will teach you how to use Angela to maximize the effects of her passives with the use of the right build and battlefield mechanics.

This guide is the result of playing thousands of games using Angela without a party. Yes, I am a solo gamer and I use support heroes.

Angela ML Build: Don’t use defensive items!

Angela ML Build

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YES, it's a controversial opinion, but hear me out.

Although most players tend to build Angela as a tank, I very strongly oppose this doctrine.

Based on Angela’s skill descriptions alone, she was designed as a magic-dependent support. All her skills are greatly enhanced with every magic item she buys.

In contrast, she becomes a weaker support with defensive items in her equipment box.

For example, Angela’s defensive items are all rendered useless once she casts her Ultimate, Heart Guard, on an allied hero. Angela and the allied hero won’t benefit from Angela’s defensive items, with the exception of the passive of Dominance Ice.

Conversely, if Angela uses an all-magic build, the effects of those items are also indirectly enjoyed by the linked ally whenever Angela casts her first and second skills.

To maximize the effects of Angela’s skills, I use the following build.

Angela Build

  • Arcane Boots - For extra magic penetration
  • Enchanted Talisman - For cooldown reduction and mana regen
  • Fleeting Time - For Ultimate’s cooldown reduction
  • Ice Queen Wand - This adds to the slowing effect of Angela’s first and second skills, making her an even more potent support
  • Holy Crystal - Increase magic damage and healing effect
  • Blood Wings - increase HP, gain a shield, and increase magic damage and healing effect
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Angela ML Build

Here's a quick video showing my mechanics and the effects of the build I use for Angela.

Combined with my Emblem set, I am able to get the maximum cooldown reduction effect of 45%, which is a crucial attribute for Angela’s first skill. You want to achieve a 45% cooldown reduction time so Angela can cast Love Waves repeatedly for 10 successive times during clashes, battering enemies while healing allies.

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It is also crucial for Angela to buy Roaming equipment. I always use Favor, which grants extra healing to the most injured ally whenever Angela uses her first skill. Favor has a quick cooldown of 15 seconds.

Emblem Set for Angela ML

I used to equip the Mage emblem set for Angela, but that was until the new updates on Emblem sets were deployed. Right now, the best Emblem set for Angela is the Support Emblem, which was significantly buffed in terms of movement speed and healing.

Emblem Set for Angela

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In the previous version, the Support Emblem's additional Healing Effect was only 10%, but this was increased to 15% in the July 2023 patch. The Support Emblem's Movement Speed can also be maxed here to 11%, compared to the previous version's 10%. This is the highest Movement Speed buff provided by any Emblem.

For her specific Emblem Skills, I choose Agility (Gains 5% extra Movement Speed), Pull Yourself Together (Cooldowns of Battle Spells and equipment's active skills are reduced by 15%), and Focusing Mark (Dealing Damage to an enemy hero increases allied heroes' damage to them by 6% for 3 seconds).

Angela’s skills: the passives

Surprisingly, many players are not aware of Angela's passives in ML. Because of this, they fail to maximize Angela's deadly skills.

Here, we explain how each of Angela's skills and passive affect her buffs and debuffs in the game.

Main Passive: Smart Heart

Angela’s main passive skill, Smart Heart, is a speed buff. Every time she casts a skill, she gains 15% movement speed, which stacks up to 30%. This passive is also granted to a linked ally when Angela uses her Ult, Heartguard.

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Skill 1: Love Waves

Angela ML

Love Waves is actually the most important skill of Angela apart from her Ult because it deals so much damage and grants so much healing. Combined with her Ult, Angela becomes a deadly and annoying hero on the battlefield if she repeatedly casts Love Waves or her skill 1.

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At the start of the game, you have to activate Love Waves first because this skill gradually stores five charges, which Angela can use speedily in succession. The potency of Angela’s Love Waves is affected by the type of items you buy.

Based on the September 2023 patches, Angela’s first skill deals 150-200 (+80% of your magic power as magic damage) to enemies hit. So if you buy Magic damage items, that will greatly benefit the effect of Angela’s first skill.

A passive effect of Angela's first skill is that it adds a stack of Lover’s Mark on the enemies it hits. Each stack of this mark increases Angela’s damage to the enemy by 20% per stack, up to 5 stacks. It also slows the enemy by 8% per stack, up to 5 stacks.

A lot of players underestimate the damage Angela’s first skill or Lover’s Mark could deal in the early game, which is why Angela tends to reap a lot of first kills in matches.

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Another effect of this skill is it grants regen to Angela and allies hit by the skill. Prior to the September 2023 patch, Love Waves restored 150 (+60% Total Magic Power) HP to allied heroes hit. Based on the September 2023 updates, the healing effect is changed to 150-200 +90% Total Magic Power at the base level.

In the June 2023 patch, Angela's Love Waves gives +625 healing per Love Wave with my build. But with the September 2023 patch, Angela can now give +771 healing per cast. Considering Angela can cast 9 successive Love Waves in 14 seconds with my build, she is able to heal +6,939 HP in 9 seconds.

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In the June 2023 patch, if you removed Ice Queen Wand and replaced it with a second Blood Wings in the late game, that granted +686 healing per Love Wave or +6,174 healing in 14 seconds. This build also granted your linked ally a shield of +3,339 hitpoints.

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But in the September 2023 patch, if you remove Ice Queen Wand and replace it with a second Blood Wings in the late game, that grants +892.55 healing per cast of Love Wave or +8,033 healing in 14 seconds. This build also grants your linked ally a shield of 4,278 hitpoints.

Skill 2: Puppet-on-a-String

Angela ML

I use Angela’s second skill, Puppet-on-a-String, as both a defensive skill and an offensive skill.

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At the base level, the Puppet String deals 300 (+40% magic power) as magic damage to the enemy hit. While connected to the Puppet String, the enemy’s movement speed slows down up to 80% within 3 seconds.

That’s the first part of this skill. The second part is the most cunning and interesting, and the most underestimated by enemies.

If the enemy is still connected to Angela’s Puppet String within three seconds, the string will deal a base damage of 450 (+60% of Angela’s total magic power) and will immobilize the enemy for 1.5 seconds.

BUT if the enemy has accumulated stacks of Love Marks from Angela’s first skill, the damage will significantly increase by 20% per stack of Lover’s Mark! This is the reason why Angela can easily kill an enemy with a half-life in the early game.

Skill 3 (Ultimate): Heart Guard

Angela ML

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In the June 2023 patch, Angela's Ult was significantly buffed by increasing the shield she grants to the linked ally. In the previous version, Angela's Ult Heart Guard, granted a base shield with hitpoints equivalent to 1,200-1,800 (+200% Total Magic Power). With the June 2023 patch, this was increased to 1,200-2,400 (+200% Total Magic Power).

Angela's Shield was even more significantly BUFFED in the September 2023 update! But you will only feel its effects with a mage build like mine. At max level with my build, Angela can now grant a shield worth 4,538 hitpoints, a very huge buff from the previous patch's 3,640-hitpoints shield. Sheesh, that's more than the maximum hitpoints of all marksmen heroes! (Their average hitpoints is 2,500 to 3,000).

Angela's Adjustment Update on September 2023

Angela Mobile Legends Patch Updates on September 19, 2023.

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As a shielder, Angela is expected to come to her ally's aid in the most desperate clashes. And that should be her primary objective in a game, which is why we chose to prioritize building Enchanted Talisman and Fleeting Time so she could cast her Ult within a short cooldown.

In the June 2023 patch, at the max level, Angela’s ultimate skill, Heart Guard, granted a shield with hitpoints equivalent to 2,400 (+280% Total Magic Power).

But in the September 2023 patch, at the base level, Angela’s ultimate skill now grants a shield with hitpoints equivalent to 2,000 (+400% Total Magic Power). At max level, Angela can grant a shield with 5,078 hitpoints.

I’d like to emphasize the “+400% Total Magic Power” because this is what has always led me to build Angela as a pure mage and not a tank.

Since there are no limits to how much shield Angela can generate for her allies, it’s only proper to maximize the effects of her Ult by increasing Angela’s magic power, not her defensive stats.

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At full level, Angela’s Ult will generate a shield worth 2,000 (+400% Total Magic Power) hitpoints. If Angela has bought all the items I recommended in my build guide, she should have at least 634 Magic Power. If that’s the case, Angela’s Ult will generate a shield with 4,538 hitpoints, an outrageous shield that is more than half of the base hitpoints of all marksmen at max level. At crucial clashes, this will turn the tide of the game. If you replace the Ice Queen Wand with a second Blood Wings, that shield grows to 5,078 hit points!

With a mage build and not a tank build, Angela is more effective in sustaining her allies in terms of healing and shield while granting them additional damage.

Angela ML Battle Guide and Mechanics

Although I’ve recommended building Angela as a mage, it’s important to always be aware of her role on the battlefield: a guard/support.

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For the last 2,300 games I’ve played using Angela, I’ve realized that the best way to support allies is to increase Angela’s own magic output, not her defense stats.

The following are tips and tricks on how to use Angela in ML effectively as a healer-killer support/guard.

1. Map awareness is the most important mechanic for Angela users.

As an Angela user, you have to learn how to fight and farm with your eyes constantly on the mini-map. This way, you can predict which areas your enemies will target, which lane will need eventual support, and which ally needs healing or sanib.

2. In the early game, Angela should support the marksman.

Not the assassin or jungler.

In the current meta, it is the marksman who deals the most damage and carries the team in the late game, which is why it is important to help the goldlaner acquire more gold than the enemy marksman as early as possible.

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It is crucial to lend your early support to very squishy and less mobile marksmen such as Layla and Miya, who have no dashing skills to escape enemies.

3. Never stay idle while spectating with Angela’s Ult!

If you should spectate with Angela’s Ult, do it for no longer than 2 seconds! An idle Angela on the map is just as useless as an AFK player.

This has been the case in Season 9 of MPL Philippines when a popular roamer used Angela during the regular season. He wasted so much time spectating, he missed opportunities to farm, heal allies, and give allies information on the battlefield.

4. When using Angela’s second skill, position yourself in the enemy’s retreat direction.

That means you have to flank them toward the direction of their base. I demonstrated this in the video above.

That way, your target will have difficulty escaping you. When this happens on a lane, their only option is to go toward your towers or the bushes but not to the safety of their own towers where you are near.

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This mechanical play is ideal for 1-on-1 clashes with Angela.

5. Angela should constantly check bushes.

Since Angela’s first skill Love Waves reveals all hidden enemies, she should not hesitate to cast it on bushes even if there is no clash.

Again, this is the reason why I prioritize Enchanted Talisman and Fleeting Time—so I can cast Angela’s first skill with near-unlimited repetition. I will not hesitate to cast it on all bushes I pass by.

7. When casting Angela’s Ult, always tap repeatedly on your first skill too.

When you use your Ult on a teammate, make sure to press your first skill repeatedly. This grants your ally extra speed to chase or escape an enemy.

Additionally, aim for the bushes since Angela’s first skill reveals all hidden enemies, including those with concealment skills such as Lesley, Aamon, and Natalia.

8. The best heroes to use Angela's Ult on are fighters and tanks.

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This is another controversial opinion, but in my experience, using Angela on tanks is effective because it allows you to penetrate the enemy line while allowing your tank to deal heavy damage with Angela's first and second skills.

It's hard to use Angela on marksmen and mages, except on Wanwan , Claude, and Valentina, who can surge forward and dive on enemies, bringing them within range of Angela's first and second skills. Mages and marksmen tend to stay behind the lines, making it difficult for Angela's skills to reach enemies.

Then again, I say this with an offensive play in mind. Angela is still quite effective in defending mages and marksmen.

9. Don't be biased on who you use your Ult on.

I don't discriminate on who will receive Angela's Heart Guard or Ult.

If I see a mage struggling in a clash, I will definitely use my Ult on that mage.

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If I see a tank dying in a team fight, I will use my Ult on that tank even if the fighter or assassin protests, because I know Angela can save that tank and kill the enemy with her very high damage and very potent healing.

10. Use Angela's Ult to escape enemies.

I've used this trick countless times to great effect. I typically use this when Aldous targets me with his ult. When that happens, I simply use Angela's ult and attach myself to our team's tank or fighter. Aldou's flight is then redirected to the tank or fighter I attached myself to.

Should Pro Players use my advice on how to use Angela?

No.

The dynamics of a pro game are very different from a public game. This guide is best suited for regular gamers who like to use Angela in a Classic or Ranked game.

When I presented my thoughts about Angela to BREN’s Head Coach Duckeyyy, he said my points were up for debate.

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“I think the hero utilization must be discussed in two ways: 1. Pub games 2. Professional games. But since we are discussing the hero to a wider public audience, then talking about the hero this way is good enough. Iba kasi dynamics ng professional games to typical pub games,” Coach Duckeyy tells me.

But as for my playing style and the usual enemies I face in Ranked games, I can say this build and mechanic work very well.



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The Comprehensive Guide on How to Use Angela in Mobile Legends
ILLUSTRATION: Abo Limos
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