Heroes of the Storm – Diablo Guide

Welcome to the Heroes of the Storm build guide for Diablo. In this guide, you will find basic information on the game and Diablo, as well as tips on how to play and build him.

This guide will break down into six categories:

• Introduction – A breakdown of the kind of character you’re playing
• Starter Abilities – The abilities your character starts with at the beginning of the match.
• Heroic Abilities – Pick from one of these two ultimate-like abilities at team level 10
• Talents – The character improvements you can choose from to custom build your hero
• Talent Builds – Recommended builds that I have personally found success with
• Playstyle Tips – Extra information about the character to help you play your best

Introduction

In Heroes of the Storm, Diablo is a melee warrior with a great kit for tanking and doing a good amount of damage.

Diablo is best played when in lane with another damage dealing character if playing as a tank or a support if playing as a damage dealer.

Starter Abilities

• Black Soulstone (Combat Trait)
• Gather souls by killing enemies in order to resurrect faster.

• Shadow Charge (Q)
• Cooldown: 10 seconds
• Charge to target enemy and push them back.

• Fire Stomp (W)
• Cooldown: 6 seconds
• Unleash fire waves in all directions.

• Overpower (E)
• Cooldown: 12 seconds
• Grab an enemy and slam them behind Diablo, stunning them and dealing damage.

Heroic Abilities (Choose One)

• Apocalypse (R)
• Cooldown: 100 seconds
• Fire attacks all enemy Heroes on the battleground.

• Lightning Breath (R)
• Cooldown: 60 seconds
• Channeled spell that damages enemies. Can be realmed.

Talents (Choose One from Each Tier)

Tier 1

• Regeneration Master: Gather 3 Regeneration Globes to permanently grant you +3 health per second.
• Devil’s Due (Trait): Diablo retains 25% of his souls when killed.
• Soul Feast (Trait): For each soul gathered, Diablo gains an additional 5 Health and 0.1 Health Regeneration per second.
• Soul Steal (E): Using Overpower grants Diablo up to 3 souls.

Tier 2

• Amplified Healing: Increases healing taken and regeneration effects by 30%.
• Firestorm (W): Fire Stomp waves that don’t hit a target return to Diablo, dealing 50% damage.
• Pierce (W): Fire Stomp waves are no longer destroyed upon impact.

Tier 3

• Block: Periodically reduces the damage received from Hero Basic Attacks by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges.
• Battle Momentum: Basic Attacks reduce your Ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds.
• Endless Death (Trait): Diablo can hold up to 250 souls.
• Siphon the Dead (D): Diablo can consume 1 soul a second to regenerate 3% of his total Health.

Tier 4

• Apocalypse (R): Creates an effect under enemy Heroes. After 1.75 seconds it explodes, dealing 160 damage and stunning for 2 seconds.
• Lightning Breath (R): Diablo becomes unstoppable and channels a cone of lightning that deals 80 damage per second. The area affected by this spell changes based on your mouse cursor’s position.

Tier 5

• Spell Shield: Periodically reduces the damage received from Hero Abilities by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges.
• Relentless: Reduces the duration of silences, stuns, slows, and roots against your Hero by 50%.
• From the Shadows (Q): The range of Shadow Charge is increased by 2.
• Crippling Shadows (Q): Shadow charge also slows the target by 1+0.25-100% for 3 seconds.

Tier 6

• Imposing Presence: Enemies that attack you have their Attack Speed slowed by 30%.
• Swallowing Flames (W): Fire waves extend 50% farther.
• Fire Devil (W): Casting Fire Stomp grants Diablo an aura that deals 15 damage every second for 10 seconds.
• Continuous Overpower (E): Diablo can hold up to 2 charges of Overpower.

Tier 7

• Storm Shield: Activate to give you and nearby allied Heroes a Shield for 20% of their max health for 3.
• Bolt of the Storm: Activate to teleport to the target location.
• Dying Breath (R): Diablo’s death brings about the Apocalypse.
• Endless Lightning (R): Lightning Breath lasts and reaches 50% longer.

Talent Builds

Tank/Initiator Diablo

• Soul Feast (Trait) or Soul Steal (E): Soul Steal is great if you plan on spamming your Overpower; Soul Feast is great otherwise.
• Any: All of these talents are viable in this build.
• Block or Endless Death (Trait): Block will prevent you from taking some damage, but Endless Death will give you a ton of health.
• Apocalypse (R): This will be what you use in team fights.
• From the Shadows or Crippling Shadows (Q): Pick whichever fits your playstyle more.
• Continuous Overpower: Gives you more control over the enemy’s placement.
• Bolt of the Storm: Allows you to get to enemies when they try to escape.

This build is all about getting tanky from your Black Soulstone, pulling an enemy out with your Overpower, and shoving them into the middle of your team to get slaughtered by using Shadow Charge.

Damage Dealing Diablo

• Any: None of these will do much to increase your damage. Feel free to choose whichever suits your playstyle.
• Pierce (W): Allows your Fire Stomp to reach more targets.
• Endless Death (Trait): You will hopefully getting a ton of kills. This will make you super tanky.
• Lightning Breath (R): This Heroic does a ton of damage.
• Crippling Shadows (Q): Don’t let your enemy escape.
• Fire Devil (W): Gives you more AoE damage.
• Endless Lightning (R): Makes your Lightning Breath even more insanely powerful.

This build is about doing as much damage as possible. Endless Death will make you harder to kill the more you kill. This allows Diablo to deal damage while also becoming really tanky.

Diablo Playstyle Tips

 Timing Your Heroics

• Try to hold your Heroics until the enemy is either rooted, slowed, or stunned.
• Apocalypse and Lightning Breath are both easy to run away from.
• Remember: Your cursor affects your aim with Lightning Breath.

Overpower Your Enemies

• When you get to level 20, you should try to isolate specific enemies by using your Bolt of the Storm to get behind them, using Shadow Charge to knock them into your team, using Overpower to pull them back twice if you took the talent, and then using Shadow Charge again to knock them back if it’s off cooldown.
• Rinse and repeat the above combo until all your enemies are dead.

Feed Your Soulstone

• Do your best to feed your soulstone.
• Keep in mind that while Heroes do give you more souls, minions still feed your soulstone.
• More souls mean more health mean more time you can spend messing up the enemy.
• Although having a ton of health is nice, be careful of characters with Giant Killer. They will eat through your health really fast.