Diablo Abilities and Strategy

• Play less aggressively right after reviving through Black Soulstone because you will not have 30% bonus maximum Health anymore.
• Fire Stomp can hit any given target up to five times in melee range.
• Use Overpower right after Shadow Charge to unconditionally move opponents towards your teammates.
• Cast Lightning Breath when you suspect you may be the target of a crowd control chain, as it makes you Unstoppable for the duration.
• Use Apocalypse right before Shadow Charge and Overpower to unconditionally Stun your target.

Shadow Charge (Q) Diablo

• Mana: 65
• Cooldown: 12 seconds

Charge an enemy, knocking them back, dealing 40 (+4% per level) damage and gaining 15% Movement Speed for 2 seconds. If the enemy hits terrain, they are Stunned for 1 second and take an additional 130 (+4% per level) damage.

Shadow Charge is Diablo's main initiation Ability. Although its bonus Stun condition may initially seem appealing, the Ability's erratic Knockback distance makes it difficult to reliably benefit from this effect. It is indeed much more commonplace to use Shadow Charge as a gap closer that perfectly chains into Overpower to unconditionally Displace an important target where your team may attack them.

Alternatively, it can be used as a follow up for Overpower, so as to shove opponents towards your teammates or away from their own. Since the Ability's Cooldown is so lengthy and its damage so inconsequential, Shadow Charge should almost exclusively be used in the presence of allies, or when trying to finish an opponent off. As a last resort, Shadow Charge may also be used against a far-away hostile target — typically Minions or Summons — to create some space between yourself and an opponent in escape situations.

Shadow Charge is notable for its ability to unconditionally interrupt channeled Abilities from a long range. Strong Heroic Abilities, such as Jug of 1,000 Cups or Ravenous Spirit, are especially valuable to shut down. This, however, often comes at the cost of potentially putting you into an undesirable forward position, upon which your opponents may capitalise to attack you.

As with many Displacement effects, you must be mindful of not actually helping your opponents by pushing them to safety, such as behind their own Gates, or out of friendly AoE effects. You can use Shadow Charge yourself to escape through terrain and units, as long as you have vision of an enemy target where you wish to travel.

Fire Stomp (W) Diablo

• Mana: 35
• Cooldown: 8 seconds

Unleashes fire waves toward the targeted area that deal 12 (+4% per level) damage each. Once they reach maximum range they return, dealing an additional 36 (+4% per level) damage. Diablo heals for 130% of the damage dealt to Heroes.

Fire Stomp's main purpose is to provide Diablo with self sustain a bit of area of effect damage. Although it has a very short cast time, it is typically used on-Cooldown whenever there is a need to deal damage, such as while waveclearing. Since the projectiles generated by the Ability have a relatively long range, they can be used to scout Bushes or try to reveal Stealthed Heroes. Fire Stomp is also useful in a pinch to finish off escaping opponents that have a sliver of Health remaining.

One of Fire Stomp's intricacies lies in its ability to "shotgun." In other words, each of the Ability's five projectiles can hit any single target, allowing you to quintuple its damage and healing by positioning properly. Due to the cone-like spread of the projectiles, achieving multiple hits is only possible against targets who are in melee range; the same is true for returning projectiles. Each projectile also pierces, meaning multiple targets can be hit as well. Maximising Fire Stomp's effect then comes down to hitting as many targets as possible. During team fights, this more or less means aiming in the general direction multiple enemy Heroes. In dueling situations, both Shadow Charge and Overpower may be used to reposition your intended target or yourself to secure hits for the returning projectiles, which deal three times as much damage.

Overpower (E) Diablo

• Mana: 35
• Cooldown: 12 seconds

Grabs the target and slams it behind Diablo, dealing 73 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning for 0.25 seconds.

Overpower is what makes Diablo so threatening in melee. Whenever you find yourself within Overpower range of an opponent, its use should become natural, so long as you have allies near you to capitalise on the Displacement with Daze effect. An often overlooked aspect of the Ability is that it puts you in a perfect position to perform a body block maneuver. Otherwise, Overpower synergises so well with Shadow Charge that they are systematically used one right after the other.

Just as with Shadow Charge, be mindful of not actually helping your opponents by displacing them to safety or away from your allies. Overpower deals a dismal amount of damage and should almost exclusively be used if the effect is going to be useful, allow you to get several Basic Attacks off, or to interrupt a channeled Ability.

In the early game, Overpower can be used to slam an unweary foe behind your own Gate. This is often enough to outright seal the fate of most Heroes.

Apocalypse (R) Diablo

• Heroic
• Mana: 50
• Cooldown: 90 seconds

Create a demonic rune under each enemy Hero on the battleground. After 1.75 seconds the rune explodes dealing 137 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning them for 1.75 seconds.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Apocalypse's lengthy Stunning effect, respectable damage, and large area of effect make it one of the game's strongest follow up crowd control Ability. It suffers, however, from an extremely obvious graphical effect and a long triggering delay that make it simple to avoid. As such, it is typically used during team fights, when potential targets are likely to be too busy or distracted to avoid the Ability's effects, as a means of interrupting channeled Abilities that leave their casters standing still, or when your team composition features some or many of the Abilities that may be used to set up for it (notably Void Prison by Zeratul). Be aware that Devouring Maw will remove enemy Heroes hit from the battlefield for its duration, causing Apocalypse not to spawn below them.

Apocalypse is also a excellent counter-engagement Ability. While making precise offensive plays, opponents do not typically have the freedom to spend much time moving about. Because of that, Apocalypse's delay almost becomes a form of crowd control in of itself, effectively zoning opponents away from your teammates or objectives.

An important maneuver to master is the use of Overpower to draw opponents that may be attempting to move out of Apocalypse's area of effect back into it. The opposite effect should also be avoided, by yourself and allies alike; both Shadow Charge and the aforementioned Ability can push foes out of Apocalypse's mark, therefore wasting the Ability.

Lightning Breath (R) Diablo

• Heroic
• Mana: 80
• Cooldown: 90 seconds

After 0.5 seconds, become Unstoppable and Channel for up to 4 seconds, dealing 50 (+4% per level) damage every 0.25 seconds to enemies in front of Diablo. Enemies affected are Slowed by 4% for 2 seconds, up to 40%.

Lightning Breath's direction changes with your mouse cursor position.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Lightning Breath is one of the most damaging Abilities in the game. Its main downside is that of disabling Diablo for the duration. As such, Lightning Breath is typically used under the same conditions as Apocalypse: against foes that are already under the effects of crowd control, or otherwise busy or so mispositioned that you may hit them for the Ability's entire duration. Always try and hit at least two targets with Lightning Breath; the large area of effect of which should make this a simple goal to achieve.

Lightning Breath's high damage, stacking Slowing effect, and impressive visuals have important implications for you and your opponents; it makes for an outstanding zoning Ability, as players reflexively avoid standing within its area of effect. Lightning Breath is also an excellent way of punishing opponents for fighting in cramped areas or over static points, such as Mercenary Camps, Structures, or Map Objectives. As a last resort, it can be used as a ranged mean of finishing off escaping foes.

Black Soulstone (D) Diablo

• Passive

Repeatable Quest: Gain 10 Souls per Hero killed and 1 Soul per Minion, up to 100. For each Soul, gain 0.3% maximum Health. If Diablo has 100 Souls upon dying, he will resurrect in 5 seconds but lose 100 Souls.

After reaching level 10, Diablo only consumes 75 Souls when resurrecting.

Black Soulstone is a Trait which increases Diablo's maximum Health for each Souls collected. To collect Souls, Diablo has to be nearby enemy Minions when they die or to help his team to kill an enemy Hero. When dying with 100 Souls, Diablo will consume them all and respawn in the Hall of Storms after 5 seconds. After reaching Level 10, the amount of Souls consumed while respawning via Black Soulstone is reduced from 100 to 75, meaning you will start from 25 Souls instead.

Considering how Black Soulstone can heavily change the amount of maximum Health that Diablo has, you generally have to play less aggressively when having less than 50 Souls but can play more aggressively when having close to 100 Souls.

Avoid dying for no reason and thus wasting all your Souls because then you will have lower maximum Health for a while. When this happens, you can use moments when your team does not really need your help to collect a bunch of Souls from Minions, but do not leave them without Tank for too long.