Diablo

This is from the Diablo universe.

“

Kneel before the Lord of Terror.

”

(5/10) (7/10) (9/10) (5/10)

Diablo is a Melee Warrior Hero and the main antagonist of the Diablo universe. He has made a few appearances in the StarCraft and Warcraft series as well.

Diablo is able to charge at his opponents, soaking up damage and dealing it back threefold.

Background Edit

Known in the ancient tongue as Al'Diabolos, the Prime Evil Reincarnate, the Demon Lord Diablo seeks to claim the world of Sanctuary for the Burning Hells. His victims are innumerable, his schemes unknowable, his gender malleable, with his own occupation as an artist of fear having risen to greater prominence since the character was created in 1996 in the first Diablo game.

Gameplay Summary Edit

Diablo is an aggressive Warrior who fulfills both the role of a Tank and a Bruiser, due his unique abilities that make him an excellent duelist and ganker, as well being very resilient. He is unique as his trait, Black Soulstone, allows him to progressively increase his healthpool to massive amounts (reaching over 7000 at level 20 with max souls), with an added effect of greatly decreasing his respawn timer if he dies at the maximum of 100 stacks.

Overall, Diablo has a solid kit suited for ganking-oriented teams, where he can can catch Heroes offguard and interrupt abilities, making him outstanding in maps that require a lot of movement between objectives. He shines in Double Warrior compositions.

Strengths Edit

Massive healthpool once Black Soulstone reaches 100 souls, meaning 40% increased health.
- In addition, dying when at maximum stacks causes him to respawn in 5 seconds.
  - Dying with less than 100 souls do not causes him to lose any stacks.
Solid ganking kit, with multiple crowd control abilities and interrupts.
Flexible talent options.
- Devil's Due grants Diablo a massive sustain at 100 souls, with a 35% increased healing from Health Globes and 120% from Healing Wells.
- Devastating Charge can transform Diablo into a situational burst Assassin, and is exceptionally strong against multiple Warrior compositions.
Shadow Charge is an outstanding gap closer, being an aggressive engaging tool, excellent for starting team fights and putting opponents out of position.
- In addition, Shadow Charge can go through any kind of structure and obstacle.
Overpower is a powerful follow up to Shadow Charge, allowing for an effective 2 step combo for body blocking foes.
Fire Stomp is relatively useful for waveclear, and can deal consistent damage at very close range.
Apocalypse is a global-range Heroic Ability that can completely change the course of teamfights. It's fantastic when used as a follow up or setup to other powerful crowd-control Heroics, such as ETC's Mosh Pit.
Lightning Breath covers huge range, being a quite strong follow-up when the allied team already features solid crowd control.
Lord of Terror can save Diablo from tight situations by providing a decent sustain and damage, specially against melee oriented teams.
Hellgate provides Diablo with a very needed mobility tool, which an added effect of being able to stun opponents. It can also be used alongside Apocalypse to further pressure opponents with stuns.

Weaknesses Edit

Relatively mana intensive.
Low damage output unless under the right circumstances.
Poor movement options for escaping if charging too deep into the enemy territory.
While dying at maximum stacks of Black Soulstone means a 5 second respawn, Diablo has to farm for souls again in order to regain his high healthpool.
Not very effective on defensive teams, and requires teams that can follow-up his hard engages effectively.

Abilities Edit

Traits Edit

Heroic Abilities Edit

Talents Edit

Tier 1, Hero Level 1 Edit

Tier 2, Hero Level 4 Edit

Tier 3, Hero Level 7 Edit

Tier 4, Hero Level 10 Edit

Tier 5, Hero Level 13 Edit

Tier 6, Hero Level 16 Edit

Tier 7, Hero Level 20 Edit

Talent Builds Edit

Balanced Build: focused on giving Diablo a healthy blend of survivability, damage and utility, allowing him to effectively initiate teamfights and gank isolated foes. Key talents include From the Shadows, which greatly increases the range of Shadow Charge, thus allowing him to surprise and chase his opponents more effectively; Diabolical Momentum, enabling him to use Shadow Charge and Overpower more often by simply Basic Attacking anything (including minions); and Domination, which makes the Shadow Charge > Overpower combo even more powerful, as it allows Diablo to use Shadow Charge again, thus further pushing away his victim from safety. Some talents can be changed depending on the situation, such as Devastating Charge, which is incredibly powerful against Double Warrior compositions and on maps with lots of tight spaces.

Tips Edit

Try not to dive too deep and leave Diablo vulnerable among his enemies, which will give him little chances of escaping.
Remember to farm for souls again should Diablo die at 100 stacks of Black Soulstone, in order to regain the bonus health lost.
- However, do not prioritize farming over teamfights and objectives. Unlike The Butcher, who has manually collect his Fresh Meat, Diablo gets his Souls naturally by standing nearby Minions and Heroes who perish next to him.
Consider taking the talent Soul Shield should the enemy team feature two or more "Mage" Assassins (i.e. Azmodan, Chromie, Kael'thas, Ragnaros).
Shadow Charge > Overpower is Diablo's bread and butter combo to disrupt his opponents; this becomes even more powerful by picking the level 16 talent Domination, effectively allowing for Shadow Charge > Overpower > Shadow Charge.
Shadow Charge can be used as a disengage tool, as long there are enemy minions away from the enemy team.
If properly used, the level 13 talent Devastating Charge can turn Diablo into a very potent, yet situational, Burst Assassin. Once completed, this talent deals 15% max health damage if Diablo collides his opponents against walls; if Domination is taken at 16 and the situation is favorable, Diablo can deal a total of 30% of his opponent's max health, plus the flat damage from Shadow Charge damage.
- Be wary of the enviroment and use it in Diablo's favor, to maximize the damage potential by hitting opponents against walls as much as possible.
  - The bonus damage from Devastating Charge is also applied when Diablo collides his opponents against ANY kind of collidable object, being not limited only to walls and structures. Some of these includes:
    - Nazeebo's Zombie Wall;
    - D.Va's MEKA when Self-Destruct is used;
    - Sgt. Hammer's Concussive Blast (if Barricade is taken);
    - Tassadar's Force Wall;
    - Leoric's Entomb;
    - Sonya's Leap (if Arreat Crater is taken);
    - Kel'Thuzad's Glacial Spike.
    - Blaze's Bunker Drop.
    - The vase spawned from Garden Terror's Overgrowth.
    - The doubloon chests that spawn in Blackheart's Bay.
Use Fire Stomp to check bushes and suspecting stealthed Heroes nearby.
Save Apocalypse for moments where the enemy team is about to unleash their own cooldowns, specially those that require stationary channeling (i.e. Junkrat's RIP-Tire and Nazeebo's Ravenous Spirit). It is also very effective to start engages if the allied team has proper ways to follow-up.
Use Lightning Breath as a follow-up to a chain of crowd control on the enemy team.
- It is great when used in enclosed spaces, such as Mercenary Camps, or when defending static objectives.

Matchups Edit

Pairings Edit

Diablo is best when paired with Heroes that can reliably follow-up and/or opening chances for him to disrupt the enemy team. Heroes that feature any kind of hard crowd control (such as stuns and roots) have great synergy with all of Diablo's abilities. Because of this, having another Warrior can greatly improve Diablo's performance.

Arthas has a great kit for disabling opponents, which synergizes with Diablo's own disruptive abilities. Both Howling Blast and Summon Sindragosa give Diablo enough time to set up his combos, as well hitting opponents with Apocalypse.

ETC and Diablo form a great duo into disrupting and harassing opponents. In addition Powerslide +Mosh Pit is a powerful combo to be followed up by Apocalypse, capable of disabling the entire enemy team.

Garrosh has immense synergy with Diablo, allowing for a strong double combo that can easily destroy key targets: Groundbreaker > Wrecking Ball followed by Shadow Charge > Overpower. Opponents caught by this combo will have little chances to survive as the rest of the allied team swarms on the victim.

Jaina's ability to slow her opponents makes easier to Diablo to charge, and vice-versa. In addition Ring of Frost and Template:Apocalypse can win any team fight if timed properly.

Kerrigan and Diablo share one distinct trait: they're both excellent gankers. Diablo can effectively charge at his victim and put them in a perfect position for Kerrigan to finish them off, leaving little time to react.

Malfurion's Entangling Roots and Twilight Dream are two powerful abilities with great synergy with Diablo's kit.

In a similar fashion to Kerrigan, The Butcher makes an excellent ganking buddy to Diablo, able to dive alongside Diablo to eliminate key targets with precision.

With his hard-engage and aggressive gameplay style, Diablo can quickly set up and follow up Lunar Flare, effectively trapping opponents into crowd control chains, specially if Diablo picks Apocalypse and Domination and Tyrande picks Starfall.

Diablo and Valeera are of like mind during team fights: find a squishy target and eliminate them. When you combine Diablo’s displacement and lockdown with Valeera’s, no place on the battlefield is safe.

Zeratul ability to blink in and out of combat makes him valuable for Diablo's ganking power, as he can help into eliminating key targets. Additionally well timed Void Prison can be followed up by Apocalypse for massive control.

Effective against Edit

Diablo shines against opponents with poor mobility, as he can pressure them by simply charging with Shadow Charge. His ability to dive into the backline, combined with his massive bulk, makes him perfect at interrupting the rotations of his enemies, such as channeled cooldowns.

Auriel wants time for her allies to generate energy for her healing, but Diablo likes to press the issue. If Diablo chooses to concentrate his disabling effects on the character that generates the best energy for Auriel, he effectively cripples Auriel’s healing capabilities.

Heroes who can quickly close the gap like Diablo can give Lúcio as hard time, as they are often difficult to kite. Lúcio also has an unfortunate penchant for being near walls, which is something that Diablo can easily take advantage of with Shadow Charge.

Effective foes Edit

Having one of the largest health pools in the game, Diablo is naturally countered by Heroes that can deal direct damage to health percentage. In addition, solid and defensive backlines capable of negating his Shadow Charge > Overpower combo can make extremely difficult for Diablo to make his job properly.

Leoric excels against heroes with high healthpools, and Diablo's trait Black Soulstone will allow Drain Hope will allow Leoric to cause high chunks of damage against Diablo. Wraithwalk also nullifies the crowd control effects of Shadow Charge and Overpower, which can mess up Diablo's rotation if used without the proper talents.

Malthael's high sustain, relatively high mobility and natural ability to melt opponents with high health makes difficult for Diablo to pin him down.

Tychus superior range, kiting and ability to shred opponents with high health. While he lacks the mobility avoid Diablo in a direct combat, he can completely destroy the Lord of Terror if his team provides enough peel. In addition, Frag Grenade can disrupt's Diablo's rotation completely.

Skins Edit

Lord of Terror (base)


Lord of Terror	Visceral	Onyx	Toxic 100

Kaijo 100: The scientists of Tristram Labs had grown overconfident. They believed the power of the atom was finally under their control. They were wrong.; _{This skin is related to the Mechas VS Kaijos themed-skins.}


Kaijo	Tyrant	Crimson

Iron Diablo 100: The heroes foolishly believed shattering his soulstone upon the Hellforge would end his reign. Now, adorned with the Hellforge's remnants, he would shatter every bone in their bodies in return.


Hell	Soul	Fell-iron*

_*_{Though the spelling is fel in World of Warcraft, fell is the spelling used in Heroes of the Storm for this skin.}

Lurkablo 400: It is with hushed whispers the fishermen of Stormwind speak of the Lord of the Depths. His very name an eternal curse upon any angler foolish enough to speak it aloud: Lurkablo.

_{This skin is related to the Warcraft themed-skins. Features altered voice-over.}


Lurkablo	Luminescent	Cave Dweller

El Chamuco 600: The terrifying El Chamuco is well-known as the muscle of the "Hell's Screamer" tag-team alongside El Jefe. Rumors circle that he actually is a demon, born in the pits of the burning hells, but that can't be possible. Can it?


El Chamuco	Hell's Screamer	Underworld

Archangel 1600: Bringing a whole new meaning to "Holy Terror."

_{Features altered voice-over and themed abilities.}


Archangel	Toxic	Twilight	Skyborne 2400

Prime Evil Diablo 1600: After twenty years, all seven essences swirled within the Black Soulstone. With Adria's final betrayal, the seven were combined into one, giving rise to a reborn Diablo... The Prime Evil.

_{Features replaced voice-over.}


Prime Evil	Nightmare	Toxic


Horrific 2400	Timeless 2400

Notes Edit

Samwise Didier likes to joke that Lurkablo is the offspring of Diablo and a murloc.^[1]

A mini-figure of Diablo based on his appearance in the game was released in May 2015.^[2]

Development Edit

Diablo was conceived within the first two years of the game's development.^[3]

In a 2011 build of the game, Diablo was considered as a boss for the now canceled Tristram map.^[4] By April 2012, it appeared that Diablo had become a playable character.^[5]

As of BlizzCon 2015, the development team is looking to give Artanis a death animation more fitting of his lore.^[6]

Patch changesEdit

(Patch July 11, 2017) Note: Skyborne Archangel Diablo, Horrific Prime Evil Diablo, Timeless Prime Evil Diablo skins added.
(Patch June 13, 2017) Note: Prime Evil Diablo’s model while no longer freeze in place during its victory animation.
(Patch April 25, 2017) Note: Prime Evil skin added.; Fixed an issue preventing Diablo from using Basic Attacks against his Overpower target if Overpower was interrupted by Zeratul’s Void Prison.
(Patch January 24, 2017) Note: Fixed a visual issue affecting Diablo's tail during certain animations.
(Patch December 20, 2016) Note: Base Maximum Health reduced from 2647 to 2567; Health Regen reduced from 5.52 to 5.35.
(Patch December 14, 2016) Note: Received updated visual effects and talent icon color tints.
(Patch December 6, 2016) Note: Diablo's Basic Attack has received responsiveness improvements.
(Patch October 18, 2016) Note: Diablo has received additional idle animation polish.; Received custom Hearthstone animations.
(Patch September 27, 2016) Note: Diablo’s prices have been reduced to $3.49 USD and 2,000 Gold.
(Patch August 18, 2015) Note: Diablo III and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls players who log in to Heroes during the three weeks following the release of today's patch will permanently receive Diablo in Heroes of the Storm.