Abathur Talents

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Quick Reference
  • 2. Overview
  • 3. Strengths
  • 4. Weaknesses
  • 5. Role in the Current Meta
  • 6. Reading Further
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Tips on Ability Usage
  • 2. Locust Strain (Trait)
  • 3. Deep Tunnel
  • 4. Toxic Nest
  • 5. Symbiote
    • 5.1. Stab
    • 5.2. Spike Burst
    • 5.3. Carapace
  • 6. Ultimate Evolution
  • 7. Evolve Monstrosity
• ×Talent Build
  • 1. Talent Build
  • 2. Common Talent Paths
    • 2.1. Carapace Build
    • 2.2. Locust Strain Build
    • 2.3. Symbiote Build
  • 3. Level 1 Talents
    • 3.1. Discussion
  • 4. Level 4 Talents
    • 4.1. Discussion
  • 5. Level 7 Talents
    • 5.1. Discussion
  • 6. Level 10 Talents
    • 6.1. Discussion
  • 7. Level 13 Talents
    • 7.1. Discussion
  • 8. Level 16 Talents
    • 8.1. Discussion
  • 9. Level 20 Talents
    • 9.1. Discussion

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for playing Abathur in a competitive environment in Heroes of the Storm. For each talent, we explain what they do and why they should or should not be taken.

The other pages of our Abathur guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About the Author

Straften is a Grand Master ranked player in both Hero League and Team League. He has a passion for theorycrafting, and regularly tests new features early on the PTR. He explains his strategy, reasoning, and implementation in these guides.

1. Talent Build

Level	Choices
1	? ? ✔ ✘
4	✘ ✘ ✔ ?
7	✔ ✘ ? ?
10	✔ ?
13	? ? ✔ ?
16	✔ ? ✔ ✘
20	? ? ✔ ?

Create your own build and share it with friends!

2. Common Talent Paths

3. Level 1 Talents

3.1. 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.

Survival Instincts will pressure the enemy team by increasing the amount of damage your Locusts can take before going down, as well as increasing the distance they can travel from you before expiring. This talent provides very little benefit unless other Locust talents are also picked up later. If you want to get the most out of Survival Instincts, take Assault Strain or Bombard Strain at 13, Locust Brood at 16, and Locust Nest at 20.

Regenerative Microbes can provides a good amount of supplemental healing to Symbiote hosts who have an active Carapace shield. The healing effect will end if the shield is destroyed, meaning that this Talent will get maximum value on out of combat allies. This supplemental healing can be very helpful to your team's support, as they will not need to spend as many resources between team fights. When combined with Sustained Carapace at level 4, you can heal almost continuously by cancelling Symbiote as soon as you cast Carapace. This is because the healing takes 4 seconds to complete, which is the same amount of time your Symbiote is on cooldown between switching hosts. This technique can be especially useful in matches where your team lacks a healer completely, which can be common in Quick Match (but can occasionally occur in ranked modes as well).

Envenomed Nest dramatically increases the damage of Toxic Nest, but deals this extra damage over time. Consider taking this if you really need to punish enemy rotations, and are planning on taking other Toxic nest talents at levels 4 and 7. This Talent can also be useful in Quick Match games when the enemy team lacks self-sustain options.

4. Level 4 Talents

4.1. Discussion

Prolific Dispersal dramatically increases the amount of times you can use Toxic Nest. While Adrenal Overload is strictly better if you have allies that can take advantage of the increased attack speed, Prolific Dispersal is a good alternative if your team lacks such a Hero. Prolific Dispersal has strong synergy with Vile Nest at level 7, even in the absence of Envenomed Nest from level 1.

Ballistospores can be useful on very large maps, where you may otherwise need to reposition to place Toxic Nests in optimal locations. In the event that you lose your Forts on large maps, you may not be able to place mines in meaningful locations at all without this Talent. This Talent will also allow you to travel Globally via Deep Tunnel, as Toxic Nests grant vision once they mature. This can be useful if you plan on pushing with a Locust oriented build on a large map. On smaller maps Toxic Nest has a large enough range that the mines are already essentially global without this Talent, making Prolific Dispersal a superior choice in those situations.

Sustained Carapace has specific synergy with Regenerative Microbes from level 1. In addition to the effectiveness of this combo as described in detail above, this talent also increases the shield's strength; however, Sustained Carapace will yield very little value without the synergy from Regenerative Microbes. It is not recommended to take this talent combo unless your team needs the supplemental healing from Regenerative Microbes to be amplified. When your team requires the healing from these two talents, you can round out the build by taking Locust talents at levels 13, 16, and 20. Assault Strain will be the best choice at 13 when lacking Survival Instincts from level 1, as something beneficial will happen when your Locusts die.

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.

5. Level 7 Talents

5.1. Discussion

Needlespine increases Stab's effectiveness dramatically, allowing Abathur to deal more damage in team fights. The additional range can be especially helpful if the enemy team is made up of multiple ranged Heroes.

Vile Nest can be extremely annoying for the enemy team. Delaying enemies' movements by a few seconds here and there can help your team secure objectives and kills, and reduces the effectiveness of enemy rotations and ganks. Vile Nest has great synergy with Prolific Dispersal and Ballistospores.

Networked Carapace is predominantly a PvE Talent focused on pushing empty lanes by keeping large numbers of Minions and Mercenaries healthy. It does apply untalented shields to allied Heroes who are nearby the Symbiote host. Although the shields are untalented, Sustained Carapace's persist effect does work with them. This allows you to cast Carapace on multiple Heroes every 4 seconds. While each individual shield is weak, the effect can add up to a meaningful advantage in long team fights.

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 especially effective on Abathur because you are able to apply pressure and push lanes during all stages of the game, while also keeping your own Structures alive. With this strategy you can win many games through attrition, picking off enemy Structures one by one. Note that you should only have one Calldown: MULE on your team. Coordinate with allies who also have access to Calldown: MULE to decide who should take it.

6. Level 10 Talents

6.1. Discussion

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. Evolve Monstrosity deals massive team fight damage in ideal situations, but it is unrealistic to assume that you will be able to get the monstrosity into position for a team fight. You need to build very specifically to mobilise a monstrosity, which is why it lacks the versatility of Ultimate Evolution

7. Level 13 Talents

7.1. Discussion

Assault Strain can be useful if you want to increase the amount of pushing that your Locusts are capable of, but could not (or did not) take Survival Instincts at level 1. This is because much of Assault Strain's value occurs when your Locusts die, making the lack of Survival Instincts an benefit for this Talent. This Talent is best taken as a single Locust Talent because of this, and can fit into situations where you have little or no need for the other Talents from this tier.

Bombard Strain increases the amount that Locust Strain passively pushes lanes. Bombard Strain requires several other Locust talents to be effective, especially Survival Instincts at level 1. This will maximise the number of Basic Attacks that each Locust is capable of delivering before perishing, while the late game Talents Locust Brood and Locust Nest will maximise the number of Locusts you can create. It can be very effective for threatening Keeps in the late game, and will force the enemy team to make decisions on your terms.

Spatial Efficiency increases Stab's damage and decreases its cooldown. This talent can put out a lot of damage when paired with Needlespine. This is 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, and is also very weak against enemy compositions with a lot of burst damage.

8. Level 16 Talents

8.1. 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, if your team composition is structured to build a hyper carry out of a single Hero, Adrenaline Boost can help your team run down kills that would otherwise escape. The main drawback to Adrenaline Boost is that its effect can be removed by destroying the Carapace shield. It is only recommended to take this with a Carapace oriented build, where it can really shine.

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. Locust Brood can also be effective in situational hybrid builds, as it only needs Bombard Strain in order to get decent value.

Volatile Mutation deals damage over time in a very short range, making it very ineffective with Ultimate Evolution, where you will often clone a ranged Hero and will only be within range for Volatile Mutation very briefly. Volatile Mutation can help Evolve Monstrosity waveclear lanes more quickly, but Adrenaline Boost is extremely important in order to effectively mobilise a monstrosity.

9. Level 20 Talents

9.1. 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 Warrior. This Talent can also be strong with melee Assassins, as it will give them more Health for the late game fights.

Evolution Complete is a niche Talent that is very dependent on your team composition and build. If the enemy team is able to deal heavy burst damage, the monstrosity will likely die before Deep Tunnel can be used. Even in games where you have built specifically around Evolve Monstrosity, you should strongly consider Hivemind.

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.