Diablo Build Guide “Kneel before the Lord of Terror.”

1. Diablo's Overview

Diablo is an aggressive Warrior. With multiple crowd control Abilities that also displace his opponents, he excels at setting up and peeling for his teammates, and punishing poor positioning. His displacement Abilities are double-edged, however, and can help opponents more than hinder them when misused.

2. Diablo's Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Extremely reliable on-demand initiation
• Very large Health pool
• Flexible Heroic Ability and defensive Talent choices
• Excellent at body blocking and peeling
• May respawn very quickly upon death through Black Soulstone
• Serviceable combat self sustain

Weaknesses

• Limited escapability
• Very low single-target damage, leading to poor Merc'ing and sieging
• No reliable means of dealing ranged damage besides Lightning Breath

3. Diablo's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Fire Stomp Build

Talent calculator »

Level 1 ? ?

Level 4

Level 7 ?

Level 10 ?

Level 13

Level 16 ?

Level 20 ? ?

This Fire Stomp Build focuses on improving Fire Stomp to increase Diablo's damage output and significantly.

Shadow Charge Build

Talent calculator »

Level 1 ? ?

Level 4

Level 7 ?

Level 10 ?

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

This Shadow Charge Build focuses on improving Shadow Charge to improve Diablo's ability to initiate, and specifically on Maps featuring a large number of walls such as Battlefield of Eternity, Cursed Hollow, Dragon Shire, Garden of Terror, Infernal Shrines, Towers of Doom, and Volskaya Foundry. Most Talents showcased here synergise well with each other to make Diablo difficult to peel or otherwise kill and very disruptive due to the amount of crowd control he has at his disposal.

See our Talents page for further information »

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4. Diablo's Synergies and Counters

Diablo synergizes with

Since Diablo provides reliable means of initiating, it follows naturally that he would work well with Heroes that have a strong and reliable way of playing off and following up said initiating. Any Hero that Stuns, Roots or otherwise hinders the movement of intended targets is preferred, but Heroic Abilities that synergise with Apocalypse make for particularly effective combos.

Diablo is countered by

As a tank with a large amount of Health, Diablo is naturally vulnerable to Heroes that deal percent-based damage. His reliance on being able to engage to be impactful also makes him lackluster against some of the more resilient backline Assassins who have tools to avoid or otherwise nullify his Shadow Charge + Overpower combo.

5. Diablo's Maps

Diablo's stronger maps

Diablo's average maps

Diablo's weaker maps

None

As the premiere ganker, Diablo thrives on Maps that give him ample opportunities to catch isolated Heroes or otherwise interrupt rotations. Generally, this includes Maps with Objectives that have changing locations. In contrast, Maps that have static Objectives or that require you to destroy specific Monsters are hardly desirable for Diablo, who lacks sustained damage, though cleverly exploiting terrain with Shadow Charge can make up for this weakness.

6. Diablo's Tips and Tricks

• Remember that after reviving through Black Soulstone, your Health pool will be 40% smaller.
• 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.

7. Role in the Current Meta

Diablo's main strengths lie in his notorious Shadow Charge + Overpower combo, which can unconditionally displace and control a target of his choosing, and very strong zoning Heroic Ability choices. Since his ability to waveclewar, siege, and claim Mercenary Camps is limited by his low damage output, Diablo is often picked for his ability to reliably initiate and counter team compositions that rely on one key damage dealer or healer. As Diablo is widely recognised as one of the best initiators in the game, Diablo players are expected to position aggressively and look for ganking opportunities or Heroes who are out of position all while interrupting key channeled Abilities.

8. Changelog