Abathur | |
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"Logical decision." | |
Basic Info | |
Title | Evolution Master |
Role | Support |
Difficulty | Very Hard |
Franchise | StarCraft |
Price | 750 / 10,000 |
Release Date | March 13, 2014 |
Base Stats | |
Attack Type | Melee |
Health | 685 |
Health Regen | 1.4257 |
Resource | None |
Unit Radius | 0.75 |
Attack Speed | 1.43 |
Attack Range | 1 |
Attack Damage | 26 |
Data Page |
Abathur, the Evolution Master, is a melee Support Hero from the StarCraft universe. Abathur, the Evolution Master of Kerrigan's Swarm, works ceaselessly to improve the Zerg from the genetic level up.
Abathur is a unique Hero who can manipulate the battle from anywhere on the map. In doing so, he can help his team secure big advantages and shape the flow of battle.
Background[ | ]
From their conception, the Zerg have been driven to pursue the perfection of their race through merciless, predatory evolution. If the Overmind has been the force behind this directive, the being known as Abathur was born as the instrument of its will. As much as a hive creature can, Abathur sees itself as personally responsible for the continuation of the Zerg. It undertakes each experiment as though the survival of the species depended on it alone, and tolerates no evolutionary backstep. Abathur will push the Swarm forward... and change it utterly in the attempt.
Abathur is an old organism, long serving as an āevolution masterā ā a guiding hand spinning the strands of Zerg DNA into mutations of existing Zerg and entirely new strains. Left to its own devices, Abathurās approach to evolving the Zerg Swarm is unorthodox: consuming living tissue, and dissolving it into genetic components able to be quickly reassembled. It was Abathur who designed the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan, as a deadly psionic agent of the Swarm.
Abathurās methods are far from the only means of evolving the Swarm, but the creature has refined them over the years following the death of the original Zerg Overmind. During its time on Char, the detached, meticulous Abathur modified any Zerg it stumbled across, and grew fixated on diversifying the Swarm in the service of the new Queen of the Zerg, Kerrigan.
During the Second Great War, Abathur once again aided Kerrigan after her deinfestation by a Xel'Naga artifact, perfecting her Swarm as she rebuilt it for a final confrontation with her nemesis, the Terran Dominion emperor Arcturus Mengsk, and continuing to serve her for the following years.
After Kerrigan's ascension to Xel'Naga, Broodmother Zagara was given control of the Swarm, and had Abathur use Xel'Naga essence gifted by Kerrigan to help regrow life in the sector as a means to negotiate peace in the war's aftermath. This however enraged Abathur, who saw the creatures they were creating as non-Zerg, and saw peace as contradictory to the Swarm's purpose. Creating his own breed of Zerg imbued with Xel'Naga essence, Abathur staged an silent uprising against Zagara during a peace talk with the Dominion and Daelaam with the hope of igniting hostilities between the three races and destroying the adostra, the Xel'Naga creatures Abathur saw as an abomination. However, a survey team sent to the surface uncovered Abathur's plot and stopped his coup, and Zagara mutilated Abathur, keeping him alive as she still had use for him, but imprisoning him.
Gameplay[ | ]
Abathur plays differently from every other Hero in the game. With extremely low health and negligible Basic Attack damage, he needs to avoid direct confrontations with enemy Heroes. He instead applies pressure to the map through use of his global Abilities, and participates in team fights by empowering his allies with Symbiote. Abathur requires your team to play differently than normal, and you will have the most success when your teammates understand this.
Abathur's biggest strength is being able to contest map objectives while soaking experience. This is done by moving Abathur within range of Minions and then using Symbiote to assist your team. This creates an experience advantage over the enemy team. According to the former World Champion Fan Yang: "Most Abathur players will not utilize their body very well and just sit somewhere safe, but they're not actually soaking any experience. Always be aware of where the body is and make sure it's in a useful place where you can soak."[1] Additionally, Locusts will passively push the lane you are closest to. They have a constant influence on a lane's balance. It is ideal to place yourself near an empty lane when possible, in order to create static lane pressure that will force an enemy to rotate to you. If the enemy team has one of their Heroes soak a lane to try to catch up, then your team is at a significant advantage in any team fight that occurs during that time. Abathur's win condition is to be more places at once than his enemy, and overwhelm the other team with a constant stream of subtle pressure. Abathur is very strong on large maps that feature frequent objective spawns, which allow him to be somewhat ignored for some of the match. These maps allow him to either soak an advantage, or force the enemy team to split. His strength, however, is also his weakness. Abathur may get comparatively less value on small maps that feature fewer lanes, team fights near lanes, or objectives that do not require immediate rotations.
Symbiote defines Abathur as a Hero. By creating a direct link between him and any allied Hero, Minion, or Structure, Symbiote allows Abathur to soak or assist allied targets in a global manner. Symbiote is often refered to as "Aba hat" or simply "hat" due to its appearance. While Symbiote is active, you will have access to three additional Abilities that will originate from or benefit the hosted target: Stab, Spike Burst, and Carapace. While Symbiote is active, you soak all nearby XP. It can be used on Heroes, Mercenaries, Minions or Summons, but not Elite Mercenaries (like Bosses), Vehicles or Monsters like Dragon Knight or Punishers. During team fights, Symbiote should almost exclusively be placed on your frontline melee Heroes. Stab and Spike Burst have relatively short ranges, and Melee Heroes will naturally position so that you can use them effectively.
Strengths[ | ]
- Can soak multiple lanes at once, creating an XP lead.
- Excellent synergy with specific Heroes like Illidan, Tracer or the Butcher.
- One of the best split-pushing Heroes in the game.
- Can teleport anywhere on the map (provided there is vision) using Deep Tunnel.
- Toxic Nest is excellent at spotting and dismounting enemies attempting to gank allies or sneak objectives.
Weaknesses[ | ]
- Weak early game.
- Body is extremely vulnerable if found.
- Requires very good multitasking and map awareness.
- Team must adapt to Abathur's unique gameplay style in order to succeed.
- Viability is very dependent on the map and team compositions.
Abilities[ | ]
- See Data page for a table of scaled values at key levels.
Talents[ | ]
Increases the range of Symbiote's Spike Burst by 25% and decreases the cooldown by 1 second.
Toxic Nests deal 75% more damage over 3 seconds and reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes hit by 10 for 4 seconds.
- Damage-over-time from multiple Toxic Nests does not stack.
Increase the Shield amount of Carapace by 40%.
Increases Locust's Health by 100% and damage by 60%.
- Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers.
Heroic Symbiote hosts gain 25% increased Attack Speed.
- Does not affect current Symbiote target when Talent is taken. Symbiote must be canceled and re-applied to grant the buff.
- Attack Speed bonus stacks additively with other effects that can affect the target's Attack Speed.
Increases the damage and range of Symbiote's Stab by 20%.
- Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Stab's damage.
Increase the duration of Toxic Nests by 45 seconds, reduce its cooldown by 2 seconds and add 2 additional charges.
Toxic Nests Slow enemy Movement Speed by 40% for 2.5 seconds.
Using Symbiote's Carapace also applies an untalented Carapace Shield to all nearby allied Heroes, Minions, and Mercenaries.
- 1) Extended by the target's unit radius.
- Is also created by Hivemind's Carapace but is not reduced by half for it. Hivemind's Carapace also adds a full Carapace Shield to the primary Symbiote target.
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Active: Activate to calldown a MULE that repairs Structures, one at a time, near target point for 40 seconds, healing for 90 Health every 1 second.
- Calldown: MULE can only be cast in visible area.
MULE
Repair
Cooldown: 70 seconds
Clone target allied Hero and control it for 20 seconds. Abathur has perfected the clone, granting it 20% Spell Power, 20% bonus Attack Damage, and 10% bonus Movement Speed. Cannot use their Heroic Ability.
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Turn an allied Minion or Locust into a Monstrosity. When enemy Minions near the Monstrosity die, it gains 2% Health and 2% Basic Attack damage, stacking up to 40 times. The Monstrosity can be healed by Carapace and has the ability to Burrow to a visible location every 80 seconds.
Using Symbiote on the Monstrosity allows Abathur to control it, in addition to Symbiote's normal benefits. This Ability can be reactivated to automatically cast Symbiote on his Monstrosity.
Symbiote's Stab gains 1 additional charge and its Cooldown is reduced by 0.5 seconds.
Symbiote's Spike Burst heals the host for 64 Health per enemy Hero hit.
Locust's Basic Attacks become a long-range siege attack and their duration is increased by 75%.
- Bombard Strain attacks can be dodged, similarly to Catapults' and Siege Giants' attacks, i.e. they can be dodged, although no preview is shown.
- Against targets within 3 range, fires a projectile that cannot be dodged (except by being disjointed).
Abathur's Symbiote's Spike Burst also Slows enemy Movement Speed by 40% for 2 seconds.
Symbiote's Carapace increases the Movement Speed of the target by 40% for 3.5 seconds.
Ultimate Evolution clones and Monstrosities deal 137 damage to nearby enemies every 3 seconds and when they die. Enemy Heroes hit heal the clone or the Monstrosity for 100% of the damage dealt.
- Damage from Volatile Mutation does not benefit from Ultimate Evolution clone's damage bonus.
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Active: Activate to spawn 3 Locusts at a nearby location.
Increase the duration of Ultimate Evolution by 50%. As long as the Ultimate Evolution is alive, the original target of the clone gains a Shield equal to 35% of their maximum Health. Refreshes every 5 seconds.
- Shield from Evolutionary Link does not stack with itself.
- If an Ultimate Evolution Clone expires or dies while the target of Ultimate Evolution (the real Hero) is flagged as Immune to AOE, then that Hero will also receive Shields from Evolutionary Link while Ultimate Evolution is active on any other target.
Increase Monstrosity's Basic Attack damage by 100%.
- Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Monstrosity's Basic Attack damage.
Symbiote creates an additional Symbiote on a nearby allied Hero. This Symbiote mimics the commands of the first, but does half damage and Shielding.
- Hivemind's abilities have their own base values that are half the original.
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Active: Activate to create a nest that periodically spawns Locusts. Only one Locust Nest can be active at a time.
Locust Nest
Builds and guides[ | ]
Abathur Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire
Abathur Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth
Skins[ | ]
Abathur Skins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Backstory: Abathur, the Evolution Master of Kerrigan's Swarm, works ceaselessly to improve the zerg from the genetic level up. His hate for chaos and imperfection almost rivals his hatred of pronouns. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
750 / 10,000 Evolution Master |
Free Bone |
Free Char |
120 / 75 Kaldir | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Backstory: Upon occasion reality appears unsuitable. Desire for absence occurs. Inhibit ocular reception. Internally visualize. Possible for current location to alter. Make dreams come true. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features: Themed abilities. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of pajama skins. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
600 / 1,200 |
600 / 1,200 Planey |
600 / 1,200 Zergy |
750 / 10,000 Paramour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Backstory: Evolution is a process that's unending. Survival requires adaptation. Even Abathur, a master of manipulating evolution itself, is no exception to this cardinal rule of nature. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
120 / 75 |
120 / 75 Crimson |
120 / 75 Pallid |
120 / 75 Feral | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Backstory: Humanity had never considered that sentient machines could exist in the darkness beyond the earth. From distant stars, Abathur's xenotech invaders came to plunder the earth's resources and further their evolution. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features: Altered voice-over, themed abilities, themed animations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of Kaijo world skins. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
750 / 1,600 |
750 / 1,600 Sinister |
750 / 1,600 Saboteur |
750 / 10,000 Galactic |
Portraits[ | ]
Sprays[ | ]
Emojis[ | ]
Quotes[ | ]
Trivia[ | ]
- Abathur first appeared in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (March 2013).
- Abathur is voiced by Steve Blum.
- Abathur was one of the 18 Heroes revealed at BlizzCon 2013.
- Abathur has the lowest base Health pool in the game, with 712 health at level 1, and 1502 health at level 20.
- Heart of the Swarm implied that Abathur was a huge worm-like creature players only ever saw the top of, which wasn't really viable in Heroes. The art team shortened him down so he could scoot around the battlefield.[2][3]
- Players end up not actually looking at Abathur much while playing him (and the enemy sees him even less), so Blizzard made sure his skins modified his symbiotes and locusts as well as his model.[2][3]
- The original inspiration behind Abathur was the Overmind with global powers and immobility. The kit evolved to be more mobile to add a dimension both to his strategic location and to give him more personality (he is rarely present on the map instead of never there), and Blizzard mapped/adjusted powers to Abathur instead.[4]
- Every hero in the game has a separate set of lines for when they're cloned by Abathur's Ultimate Evolution heroic, save for Abathur himself.
- Abathurs Toxic Next and Symbiote abilities were created for Heroes of the Storm, but were later brought to StarCraft II as part of his commander in the Co-op Missions mode.
- Locusts are temporary zerg creatures that were introduced in Heart of the Swarm, and spawned from swarm hosts.
- Abathur's Z ability, Deep Tunnel, was first usable by players with the Creeper strain of swarm hosts from Heart of the Swarm. Deep Tunnel first appeared as an ability of Kerrigan in Wings of Liberty, which she uses to escape fatal damage. Many of Abathur's units gain Deep Tunnel in Co-op Missions mode.
- Abathur's Level 4 talent Adrenal Overload is a reference to an upgrade Abathur can give to zerglings in the Heart of the Swarm campaign.
- Abathur is the last hero in the game with the Calldown MULE ability at Level 7. MULEs are a terran temporary mining and repair robot in StarCraft II.
- Abathur's Level 20 talent Evolution Complete is a reference to the voice line that plays with a zerg player completes an upgrade.
Gallery[ | ]
General[ | ]
Abilities[ | ]
Concept art[ | ]
Videos[ | ]
References[ | ]
- ā A Symbiotic Connection: Tempo Storm Fan's Guide to Abathur
- ā 2.0 2.1 2015-06-12, IGN: How Blizzard's Heroes Went From Concepts to Icons
- ā 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mr. Jack on DeviantArt: Evolution of Abathur
- ā 2014-05-04, Hero Suggestion Overmind. Blizzard Entertainment
- ā BlizzHeroes. (2018, January 18). MechaStorm Concept Art. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-01-19.
External links[ | ]
- Abathur - Heroes of the Storm
- Abathur - StarCraft II
- April Fools - Pajamathur
- Abathur - StarCraft Wiki
- Abathur Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes
- Abathur Sound Files - Sounds of the Storm