Your Role, should you accept it: Top





What he does excel at: Peeling damaging heroes, brawlers, etc from your team.

Putting people INTO your team.

Stopping channeled heroic abilities quickly.

Setting up team fights.

Body blocking.

What he's not so good at: Fighting 1v1

Mercenary Camps

Dealing damage (Except for Bruiser Build)

Getting OUT of a team fight

He's good at many things, but he's so bad at those few things he just NEEDS help constantly. As a Diablo, you need to be with a teammate all the time if you're not in a lane. Remember this and you will do fine. Diablo is a very strong hero for very finite reasons. He's incredibly healthy, has great regeneration of Health, and dishes out so many stuns/displacements that he's just a solid choice. However, his damage is low, his escape mechanisms are very occasional, and he generally can't do much by himself.What he does excel at:What he's not so good at:He's good at many things, but he's so bad at those few things he just NEEDS help constantly. As a Diablo, you need to be with a teammate all the time if you're not in a lane.

The Art of Being Big Top





Be the person between where your enemy is and where they want to be!



(Quick definition: Peel - to displace/crowd-control/etc enemies to give an allied hero space. "Peeling" enemies away)



Peel for your team if you see:





These fellows love to get into the backline and wreck your poor team. Your team will need protection more than anything else. Kick them out and away from your squishy back line.



Who do I put INTO my team?



Up for grabs heroes with no escape mechanisms. If they are the closest to you, it normally is a free kill if you have teammates. Kael'thas, Jaina, Malfurion, Abathur, Gazlowe, Nova, Raynor, Tyrande, Zagara. Level 20 they probably pick Blink because of you, and you alone, so feel proud about that.



Body Block

Again, your opponent wants to go from A -> B. You need to stop them. Learn how to use your large-character-model to stop them from getting there by predicting their moves and jukes. It takes time, but stopping an enemy from getting behind a gate by blocking them with your model can be the difference of your team getting kill or not. That kill is map control. Map control normally means victory. Diablo is big, he's got a lot of displacement. Your number one motto?(Quick definition: Peel - to displace/crowd-control/etc enemies to give an allied hero space. "Peeling" enemies away)These fellows love to get into the backline and wreck your poor team. Your team will need protection more than anything else. Kick them out and away from your squishy back line.Up for grabs heroes with no escape mechanisms. If they are the closest to you, it normally is a free kill if you have teammates. Kael'thas, Jaina, Malfurion, Abathur, Gazlowe, Nova, Raynor, Tyrande, Zagara. Level 20 they probably pick Blink because of you, and you alone, so feel proud about that.Again, your opponent wants to go from A -> B. You need to stop them. Learn how to use your large-character-model to stop them from getting there by predicting their moves and jukes. It takes time, but stopping an enemy from getting behind a gate by blocking them with your model can be the difference of your team getting kill or not. That kill is map control. Map control normally means victory.

The Build Top

Level 1



Logic here is, if you die, you come back with 40 souls. Soak up 2-3 waves or two heroes kills and you can 5-sec rez again. Late game this is basically the best thing ever.



Also, if you rez after 100, you have 40 souls. At level 20, 40 souls is a 10% HP bonus (with level 7 talent) = 5800*0.10 = 580. So much health bonus when you JUST rezzed!



Block is another runner up if you don't like this idea.



Level 4



75% Demonic Strength: You pick people up, you put them down. This slows them down to allow Q->E combo to be better. Or if you just get any Overpower your body blocking is now just easier to do.



25% Fire Devil: Haunted Mines this feels like a must to defend/pick up skulls. It's actually decent damage too. Nice against cloakies too, as it just helps overall in keeping them not cloaked if you go on them.





Level 7



This makes Diablo super-super-super-super tanky late game. 100 souls = 25% bonus HP. 125% HP on diablo!? At 5800 HP at 20 you get 1450 extra hp. Sorry... let me say that again FOURTEEN HUNDRED HP...EXTRA. If you die you come back with a bonus of 580 at 20. Its a weak talent earlier, as it scales linearly.



Other skills are okay here, really I hold all the rest same level... but Soul Steal = 90% pick.



Level 10



See Abilities Section.



Level 13



Simple choice. 15% heal ever 30 seconds. Pop it whenever. 15% of Diablo's HP is massive and it's on a 30 sec cooldown. No brainer. Just tap D every 10 seconds and sustain like a beast.



Level 16



Imposing Presence completely disarms any auto-attacking hero in the game. You're D I A B L O. You're in their face. They attack you with an AA and they just get REKT. Look for Valla with AA Hatred Builds, Sgt Hammer, Raynor, Tassadar with Archon, Sylvanas with Follow Through, Tychus, Illidan. See any of those? Imposing Presence. It also procs and effects if Diablo is hit by another target's splash. Meaning if you stand near your Dragon Knight or squishy heroes that Sgt. Hammer is hitting them, guess what because it hit you too that means they get affected by Imposing Presence and they now do way less.



Other than those enemies builds/heroes I go for Rampage. It's fun. It does good damage. Get those Auto Attacks in !



Level 20



Lord of Terror is new. Been playing with it a lot. It's a lot of damage, lot of sustain, lot of fun. I highly suggest it. Nailing a 4-5 man Lord of Terror is just far too nice to pass up.



Dying Breath is REALLY not good. Apocalypse has to be very calculated and very well placed to do anything. Just look at the long list I have below for it, and tell me Diablo will CHOOSE to die at the exact moment any of those criteria will exist. The answer: he won't.



Hellstorm is just the go-to if you picked up Lightning Breath. It's toooo gooood. Logic here is, if you die, you come back with 40 souls. Soak up 2-3 waves or two heroes kills and you can 5-sec rez again. Late game this is basically the best thing ever.Also, if you rez after 100, you have 40 souls. At level 20, 40 souls is a 10% HP bonus (with level 7 talent) = 5800*0.10 = 580. So much health bonus when you JUST rezzed!Block is another runner up if you don't like this idea.75% Demonic Strength: You pick people up, you put them down. This slows them down to allow Q->E combo to be better. Or if you just get any Overpower your body blocking is now just easier to do.25% Fire Devil: Haunted Mines this feels like a must to defend/pick up skulls. It's actually decent damage too. Nice against cloakies too, as it just helps overall in keeping them not cloaked if you go on them.This makes Diablo super-super-super-super tanky late game. 100 souls = 25% bonus HP. 125% HP on diablo!? At 5800 HP at 20 you get 1450 extra hp. Sorry... let me say that again FOURTEEN HUNDRED HP...EXTRA. If you die you come back with a bonus of 580 at 20. Its a weak talent earlier, as it scales linearly.Other skills are okay here, really I hold all the rest same level... but Soul Steal = 90% pick.See Abilities Section.Simple choice. 15% heal ever 30 seconds. Pop it whenever. 15% of Diablo's HP is massive and it's on a 30 sec cooldown. No brainer. Just tap D every 10 seconds and sustain like a beast.Imposing Presence completely disarms any auto-attacking hero in the game. You're D I A B L O. You're in their face. They attack you with an AA and they just get REKT. Look for. See any of those? Imposing Presence. It also procs and effects if Diablo is hit by another target's splash. Meaning if you stand near your Dragon Knight or squishy heroes that Sgt. Hammer is hitting them, guess what because it hit youthat means they get affected by Imposing Presence and they now do way less.Other than those enemies builds/heroes I go for Rampage. It's fun. It does good damage. Get those Auto Attacks in !Lord of Terror is new. Been playing with it a lot. It's a lot of damage, lot of sustain, lot of fun. I highly suggest it. Nailing a 4-5 man Lord of Terror is just far too nice to pass up.Dying Breath is REALLY not good. Apocalypse has to be very calculated and very well placed to do anything. Just look at the long list I have below for it, and tell me Diablo will CHOOSE to die at the exact moment any of those criteria will exist. The answer: he won't.Hellstorm is just the go-to if you picked up Lightning Breath. It's toooo gooood.

Abilities Top

Shadow Charge

This ability should be saved if you're going against Valla, ETC, Witch Doctor, or Nova. Those heroes have channeled heroic abilties that NEED to be stopped and you're the hero to do it! Be scared, however, because Shadow Charge is a LONG distance gap closer! Make sure you don't go too far from your team while using it!!



Aside from that, use this to push people away or into your team. Pair with overpower by "buffering" Overpower while the animation for Shadow Charge is happening. Or Overpower then Shadow Charge if you have someone nice and close by!



Fire Stomp

Use this just all the time. Low mana, reveals, pushes lanes. When do you NOT use this? when you're taking a jungle camp. The flames will extend PAST the camp and be a real good indication to the enemy team you're doing that camp!!



Overpower

This spell does one thing really well: It sets you up to block your opponent. Diablo is large, use Overpower to keep your opponents from getting away. Put YOU in between where they are, and where they want to go. Doesn't just mean escaping. Example: Arthas wailing on your Assassin, Overpower him to be on the other side of you giving your Assassin more room to breath, then body block Arthas for days.



BE CAREFUL NOT TO MOVE PEOPLE OUT OF AOE!



APOCALYPSE

The Mother of All Spells. Never use this in 1v1. Never use this in wide open areas unless the enemy team is spread so that at least 2 people have no escape from the runes that pop up, and your team is right behind you. It's global so you can pop it when your team is fighting something like a 2v2 or bigger elsewhere.



This spell has a LONG cool-down. Misusing it will mean your team doesn't have a full advantage next team fight, guaranteed.



Good times to Apocalypse Close quarters or limited movement, like around Tributes, Shrines, Teamfights in the Jungle

Enemy is running towards a gate.

If they're blobbed up, normally means at least one or two people will get caught by it

Enemy is running away in a three-by-two formation (3 in front, 2 in back) the two in the back will ALWAYS run into it, or have to run tangential to your team, allowing quick pickup.

Void Prisons/Grav-Bomb - Time them out so they work Perfectly in tandem! Remember, Zeratuls can release Void Prison by hitting R again!!

During Channeled Heroics and out of range of Shadow Charge? Apoc!

Lightning Breath

Lightning Breath is GREAT vs Illidan. I see a lot of people using it. I'm still in the camp of Apocalypse just because I feel like it can win a fight harder. Lightning Breath is best paired with against heavy-engage compositions because they run at you, pop CD's and you Lightning Breath. This forces the enemy team to take a TON OF DAMAGE or have to stall out. They lose their advantage. It's great for a lot of situations involving staying in close quarters and just does solid damage now. I recommend trying it out if you're not comfortable or think you can't pull off Apocalypse set ups. Great disengage, better at 20. The Mother of All Spells. Never use this in 1v1. Never use this in wide open areas unless the enemy team is spread so that at least 2 people have no escape from the runes that pop up, and your team is right behind you. It's global so you can pop it when your team is fighting something like a 2v2 or bigger elsewhere.This spell has a LONG cool-down. Misusing it will mean your team doesn't have a full advantage next team fight, guaranteed.Good times to ApocalypseLightning Breath is GREAT vs Illidan. I see a lot of people using it. I'm still in the camp of Apocalypse just because I feel like it can win a fight harder. Lightning Breath is best paired with against heavy-engage compositions because they run at you, pop CD's and you Lightning Breath. This forces the enemy team to take a TON OF DAMAGE or have to stall out. They lose their advantage. It's great for a lot of situations involving staying in close quarters and just does solid damage now. I recommend trying it out if you're not comfortable or think you can't pull off Apocalypse set ups. Great disengage, better at 20.

Quick Tricks Top

During laning phase stay mounted for movespeed, when your opponent is about Shadow Charge length away from your gate, overpower and shadow charge them into your towers. (Make sure creeps are not in range of towers!) You can overpower greedy opponents OVER gates/walls if they come too close! This happens SO MUCH in Dragonshire! Bolt ahead of an opponent -> Shadow Charge them back -> Body Block, when they start to run around you? Overpower ;) -> -> -> Use Shadow Charge to disengage or escape! Pick an enemy creep/jungle/lone-enemy-hero and charge away from the angry mob chasing you down! Pair yourself with a friend who's Tyrande! You can Overpower and time a Lunar Flare to go down at the exact time. Wait for the Flare stun to be over, then Shadow Charge back! It's a great combination.

Some Fun Videos I've Made Top



They may be old and out of date, but still have solid mechanics in them!

Where you can find me: Top