Abathur Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Abathur. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Abathur's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Abathur's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
---|---|
1 | ✓ ? ✘︎ ✘︎ |
4 | ✓ ? ? |
7 | ? ? ✓ |
10 | ✓ ? |
13 | ? ✓ ✘︎ |
16 | ? ✓ ✘︎ ✘︎ |
20 | ? ✘︎ ✓ ? |
Abathur's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Symbiote Build
RecommendedThe Symbiote Build maximises Abathur's team fight presence by taking Talents that improve Symbiote's damage dealing Abilities. This team fight presence comes at the cost of global pressure, as you will lack the huge lane pressure provided by other builds. Although this is not a build that focuses on pushing lanes, it is still important to soak as much experience as possible. Due to the short range of Symbiote's Abilities, this build is ideally paired with a melee assassin who benefits from increased attack speed.
Adrenal Overload will greatly increase the performance of certain heroes, like Illidan, or Greymane. When the Symbiote host is not reliant on Basic Attacks, you should get Needlespine instead. Even though Calldown: MULE will be useful in most games, Vile Nest is also an option in Dragon Shire and Cursed Hollow, since it will provide much control for enemy rotation and objectives. At Level 16 Adrenaline Boost is the standard Talent, but Envenomed Spikes is a great option against team compositions with limited mobility, since the slow will affect all enemies, greatly disrupting their movement. Together with a Dragonblade Genji or Maiev, you can go for Evolutionary Link at Level 20, since the shield and the extra duration will be incredibly good for those Heroes.
Toxic Nest Build
SituationalToxic Nest build can be a good choice in situations where you do not have viable heroes to place Symbiote on. It excels in maps with constant rotation, such as Dragon Shire, Blackheart's Bay, Cursed Hollow, Garden of Terror and Towers of Doom.
Even though it sounds interesting to use all your Toxic Nest in the same point, this is not the best way to abuse this build. We recommend using the Nests between the waves, while making sure they are not very close between them. The main focus is to abuse Vile Nest's slow to delay enemy rotations or to control the way towards the objective. It is also very important to always have a Toxic Nest on enemy's Mercenary camps, since it will give that information to your team, and sometimes it will even stop their intention in capturing it.
In this build there is not much commitment into Symbiote Talents, for this reason we recommend going for Ultimate Evolution, considering it will be strong nonetheless, since it does not depend on any talents, while Evolve Monstrosity does. Envenomed Nest should be changed to Pressurized Glands if opposing team has good access to sustained-healing, since the damage over time will be negated by their healer. At level 13, Soma Transference is the default pick as long as most of your simbiote hosts are frontline Heroes. Therefore, it is better to go for Spatial Efficiency when backliners are the hosts. Evolutionary Link can be a good Talent as well, and you should use the Heroic Ability on your teammate that is having more trouble staying alive, since the 35% shield will be applied to them, giving them some much needed protection.
Locust Strain Build
Not recommendedThe Locust Strain Build focuses on talents that produce and enhance Locusts. It excels at creating debilitating static pressure in lanes of your choosing. You can have a significant impact on mid-game team fights via Ultimate Evolution. This build path is mostly not recommended, but sometimes you will feel like that even with your Symbiote on a Hero you will not win the fights. This happens mostly when enemy team composition is a direct counter to yours. Locust build can be an option in that scenario, but we would still recommend going for Symbiote or Toxic Nest build instead. Abathur's power is completely focused on Symbiote, building around Locusts is not the best path. Most of the Heroes can easily defend against it, reducing the viability of this build. Other builds are harder for enemies to deal with, and therefore are much more reliable.
This build has the major Power Spike at level 16, since Locust Brood will enable Abathur to push easily when enemies are not defending. It is crucial to play more aggresive from that point and forward. If all enemies are showing in the map, use Deep Tunnel to an empty lane to spawn 4 locusts and retreat. While an enemy is clearing your Locusts, your team can engage a favourable team fight, but be aware to warn your team by either pinging or even using Ultimate Evolution and advancing.
Level 1 Talents for Abathur
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.
Increase the Shield amount of Carapace by 40%.
Increases Locust's Health by 100% and damage by 60%.
Discussion
Pressurized Glands provides Spike Burst with a reasonable power increase during the early game, and has good synergy with Soma Transference and Envenomed Spikes at Levels 13 and 16 respectively. Pressurized Glands also helps improve your waveclear. It is the recommended option for this tier, since it greatly enhances his Symbiote.
Envenomed Nest dramatically increases the damage of Toxic Nest, but deals this extra damage over time. Consider taking this if you are planning on taking the other Toxic nest talents at levels 4 and 7. This Talent can also be useful in Quick Match games when the enemy team lacks a healer or self-sustain options.
Reinforced Carapace increases Carapace's shield amount. Carapace's healing effect ends if the shield is destroyed. This Talent adds a very small boost to shield strength; for this reason we recommend Pressurized Glands instead.
Survival Instincts is an underwhelming Talent, as it will only be impactful when paired with other Locust Strain focused Talents. However, all these Talents that improve your split-push cannot be compared to Teamfight Talents, which are much better during the game.
Level 4 Talents for Abathur
Heroic Symbiote hosts gain 25% increased Attack Speed.
Increases the damage and range of Symbiote's Stab by 20%.
Increase the duration of Toxic Nests by 45 seconds, reduce its cooldown by 2 seconds, and add 2 additional charges.
Discussion
Adrenal Overload significantly increases the damage potential of Heroes who depend on Basic Attacks for damage, self-sustain, or to trigger other effects. Heroes that do not rely on Basic Attacks benefit much less from this Talent; its usefulness depends on team composition.
Needlespine allows Abathur to deal more damage with Symbiote by increasing Stab's range and damage. This talent is very impactful, but if you have a good Hero reliant on Basic Attacks, Adrenal Overload will be a better option. Otherwise, Needlespine will have great value.
Prolific Dispersal dramatically increases the number of Toxic Nests Abathur can deploy simultaneously. Prolific Dispersal has strong synergy with Vile Nest at level 7, even in the absence of Envenomed Nest from level 1. Consider this talent in maps where you can easily disrupt enemy rotations, such as Dragon Shire, Towers of doom or Infernal Shrines.
Level 7 Talents for Abathur
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.
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
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.
Discussion
Vile Nest can be extremely annoying for the enemy team. This talent can help your team secure objectives and kills by reducing the effectiveness of enemy rotations and ganks. Vile Nest has great synergy with Prolific Dispersal.
Networked Carapace is predominantly a PvE Talent focused on pushing empty lanes by keeping large numbers of Minions and Mercenaries healthy. It applies untalented shields to allied Heroes who are nearby the Symbiote host. Carapace's heal effect is not applied to Minions or Mercenaries, but it is applied to all Heroes that are shielded by Networked Carapace. This Talent is good against teams with low waveclear, as it makes it much harder for them to deal with waves or Evolve Monstrosity.
Calldown: MULE should almost always be taken on Sky Temple, because it gets insane value due to the way the main objective plays out there. It is a situational pick on other maps. Calldown: Mule is usually a very strong choice. It allows you to apply pressure and push lanes during all stages of the game while repairing your own Structures.
Level 10 Talents for Abathur
- 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.
Discussion
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.
Ultimate Evolution is a fantastic and versatile Heroic ability. It should usually be used on high damage Heroes, as these clones will benefit the most from the extra Ability Power and Basic Attack damage. Ideally, the cloned Hero will also have a gap closer to ensure that you are able to close in on enemies and deal meaningful damage during the 20 second window. Cloning Tanks will yield less damage, but can be useful if your team requires more crowd control.
Evolve Monstrosity is a strong pushing and sieging tool, but you must sacrifice a lot of team fight presence in order to take it. It is unrealistic to assume that you will be able to get the monstrosity into an ideal position. Sometimes having Symbiote on a hero will be better than using Ultimate Evolution in a fight. At those games, we recommend picking Evolve Monstrosity instead, as it will push the offlane while you are supporting your team in the best possible way.
Level 13 Talents for Abathur
Symbiote's Stab gains 1 additional charge and its cooldown is reduced by .5 seconds.
Symbiote's Spike Burst heals the host for 64 (+4% per level) Health per enemy Hero hit.
Locust's Basic Attacks become a long-range siege attack and their duration is increased by 75%.
Discussion
Spatial Efficiency can put out a lot of damage when paired with Needlespine. This can be useful when you find yourself primarily using Symbiote to imbue a ranged Basic Attacker with Adrenal Overload, or would otherwise get decreased value out of Spike Burst Talents.
Soma Transference can heal the host for a significant amount of Health, especially if Symbiote is on a melee Hero who will be within range of multiple enemy Heroes. Pressurized Glands synergises very well with this Talent. Soma Transference is less effective on ranged allies.
Bombard Strain increases the distance that Locusts can travel before expiring; it also the number of Basic Attacks that they can deliver during this time. When this talent is paired with Locust Brood, you can threaten enemy Keeps with waves of Locusts. However, it will mostly be better to get a Talent that will improve your impact in fights, like Spatial Efficiency or Soma Transference.
Level 16 Talents for Abathur
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 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies every 3 seconds and when they die. Enemy Heroes hit heal the clone or Monstrosity for 100% of the damage dealt.
- Cooldown: 45 seconds
Activate to spawn 3 Locusts at a nearby location.
Discussion
Envenomed Spikes provides a significant Slow over a large area, especially when combined with Pressurized Glands at Level 1. It allows melee Heroes to stick to targets much more easily than they would otherwise be able to. One advantage this has over Adrenaline Boost is that its effect cannot be removed by damaging your Symbiote host. The other important difference is that Envenomed Spikes can affect multiple enemies.
Adrenaline Boost is essentially the opposite of Envenomed Spikes, speeding up a single ally, rather than slowing down multiple enemies. Slowing enemies allows your entire team to reposition, as opposed to giving a single ally increased Movement Speed. However, Adrenaline Boost can help your team run down kills that would otherwise escape. The main drawback to Adrenaline Boost is that its effect is removed when Carapace shield is destroyed. Despite those flaws, this Talent is very impactful when Symbiote is on a hypercarry, or on a very mobile hero, such as Zeratul, Tracer, Genji or Greymane.
Volatile Mutation deals damage to enemies very near Abathur's Heroic entities. This talent may have some conflicts with Ultimate Evolution, where you will often clone a ranged Hero and may only be within range for Volatile Mutation very briefly. Volatile Mutation is overshadowed by Envenomed Spikes and Adrenaline Boost, since those will be much more effective and reliable in fights than Volatile Mutation.
Locust Brood can be used in combination with Deep Tunnel to instantly create pressure at any location. Locust Brood is required in any kind of Locust oriented build, as it is the only Talent capable of producing Locusts in bursts. Still, like other Locust Strain Talents, they do not add anything to Abathur's impact in teamfights, and are not recommended.
Level 20 Talents for Abathur
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.
Increase Monstrosity's Basic Attack damage by 100%.
Symbiote creates an additional Symbiote on a nearby allied Hero. This Symbiote mimics the commands of the first, but does half damage and Shielding.
- Cooldown: 45 seconds
Activate to create a nest that periodically spawns Locusts. Only one Locust Nest can be active at a time.
Discussion
Evolutionary Link makes it harder for the enemy team to kill Ultimate Evolution's target. Because the shield is based on the target's maximum Health, this can be situationally useful if your composition's preferred clone is a melee assassin. We recommend going for this Talent when you are not going for a Symbiote build, but still picked Ultimate Evolution. However, it can still be picked with Symbiote build, as long as you have Genji, Maiev, or Qhira to clone.
Evolution Complete is a great Level 20 talent to take in games where Evolve Monstrosity has been selected. However, Evolve Monstrosity is really underwhelming when compared to Ultimate Evolution.
Hivemind increases Symbiote's effectiveness by 50% when considering Symbiote Abilities directly. However, Hivemind doubles Symbiote's effectiveness when considering Talents like Soma Transference and Envenomed Spikes, as these Talents work per Hero hit, rather than per Ability cast. This provides you with greatly increased team fight presence. Regardless of what other Talents you take, you will almost always get good value out of Hivemind in team fights.
Locust Nest pushes a full Locust build to the limit, helping to generate as many Locusts as possible. It will double the number of passively generated Locusts, and allows you to simultaneously spawn Locusts in different lanes. This Talent is only recommended when you have several Talents already invested into Locusts, as other options at this tier will get more value otherwise.
Changelog
- 26 Mar. 2021: Updated builds and Talents to better reflect Current Meta.
- 09 Apr. 2020: Updated builds and Talents to better reflect Current Meta.
- 15 Feb. 2020: Updated text for Prolific Dispersal to account for balance patch.
- 29 Jan. 2020: Reviewed Talents section for relevance and fixed grammatical error.
- 18 Apr. 2019: Updated Talents section to account for balance patch.
- 12 Feb. 2019: Updated guide to reflect Hero rework in balance patch.
- 12 Dec. 2017: Edited Calldown: MULE to reflect 2018 game design changes.
More Support Guides
Derenash has been playing Heroes of the Storm since 2015 and has achieved Grandmaster in multiple seasons, peaking at Top 1 in Season 3 and 4 of 2018. He participated in the HGC Copa America in 2018 where his team had a strong victory. He is passionate about teaching others about the game, and streams often on Twitch in Portuguese, and you can find him in Wind Striders' Discord as well where he is happy to answer any questions in English or Portuguese.
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: September 26th
- Heroes of the Storm Live Patch Notes: August 12th
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: July 15th
- Blizzard at Gamescom 2024
- Icy Veins Seeking Writers for Zenless Zone Zero: Apply Today!
- Heroes of the Storm Live Patch Notes: May 21st
- No BlizzCon in 2024
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: April 16th