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Diablo Build Guide “Kneel before the Lord of Terror.”
Welcome to our guide for Diablo, a Tank in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.
Diablo's Overview
Diablo is an aggressive Tank. With multiple crowd control
Abilities that also displace his opponents, he excels at setting up
and peeling for his teammates, and punishing poor positioning.
Due to how 
Shadow Charge works, Diablo is particularly strong
when enemy Heroes have impassable terrain right behind them.
Diablo's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Powerful engage- Very large Health pool
- Excellent at body blocking
- May respawn very quickly upon death through
Black Soulstone - Good self-sustain
- High damage against enemy Heroes
Weaknesses
Limited and conditional mobility- Low waveclear
- Requires impassable terrain to shine
Diablo's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Fire Stomp Build
Recommended
Diablo's Fire Stomp Build boosts your survivability and damage output
when hitting enemy Heroes with 
Fire Stomp.
Remember to alternate it with other Basic Abilities to get more value
from Eternal Flames at Level 7.
While you can play this Build in most games,
the self-healing provided by Fire Stomp
empowered by various Talents makes this Build particularly useful
when playing against Heroes who counter you (for example Tychus)
and therefore force you to not play aggressively.
Shadow Charge Build
Advanced
Diablo's Shadow Charge Build provides superior burst damage and crowd control on closed Maps where one can reliably slam opponents against impassable terrain (notably Infernal Shrines).
You should constantly look for good angles for Shadow Charge
because you have various Talents depending on your target being Stunned
with it. Ideally, you should go for squishy enemy Heroes,
but any target is fine when they are out of position and/or have no defensive tools.
Sacrificial Soul at Level 4 makes it harder to get Souls back
as you have to fully commit to Stun enemy Heroes
with Shadow Charge. 
Malevolence at Level 7
increases your burst damage when doing so.
Basic Attacks Build
Situational
Diablo's Basic Attacks Build provides superior self-sustain and
fair single-target damage potential. As a key Talent, 
Diabolical Momentum
allows Feast on Fear to trigger often through repeated Ability casts
for significantly increased combat survivability, especially once you get Cruelty.
You can get the most out of this Build when the enemy team
has a low amount of crowd control—including
Blinds—at their disposal as you will be generally
free to hit your target and heal up via 
Life Leech at Level 4.
Hybrid Build
SituationalDiablo's Hybrid Build provides superior burst damage and crowd control on closed Maps where one can reliably slam opponents against impassable terrain (notably Infernal Shrines).
You should constantly look for good angles for Shadow Charge
because you have various Talents depending on your target being Stunned
with it. Ideally, you should go for squishy enemy Heroes,
but any target is fine when they are out of position and/or have no defensive tools.
Souls to the Flame at Level 4 makes it easier to get Souls back
as you do not have to fully commit to hit enemy Heroes with Fire Stomp.
Combined with it, Eternal Flames at Level 7 helps you get Souls
and makes you more durable when you commit.
ARAM Build
ARAMDiablo's ARAM Build boosts your survivability and damage output
when hitting enemy Heroes with Fire Stomp.
Remember to alternate it with other Basic Abilities to get more value
from Eternal Flames at Level 7.
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.
Diablo's Maps
Diablo does great on Maps where the early game
is not that important (such as Garden of Terror) and where
findining opportunities to use Shadow Charge
near impassable terrain is easy,
resulting into a Stun and thus extra damage.
Diablo does poorly on Maps with wide areas, where he cannot get
value from impassable terrain,
and on Maps where the early game
is important (notably Braxis Holdout) because he is too weak
before Level 7 and without Souls for 
Black Soulstone.
Diablo's Tips and Tricks
- Sometimes it is better to use
Shadow Charge on an enemy Minion and then cast 
Overpower on an enemy Hero, so they do not get pushed first. 
Fire Stomp can hit any given target up to five times in melee range. Cast it in the direction that is going to result in the highest amount of hits.- Use Overpower right after Shadow Charge to move opponents towards your teammates, so that they can follow-up.
- Be careful right after reviving through Black Soulstone because you will not have 30% bonus maximum Health.
- In some rare situations it may be useful to cast
Lightning Breath just to become Unstoppable for a moment. - Cast
Apocalypse, then use Shadow Charge, and then cast Overpower to put an enemy Hero on the rune that is below them.
Diablo's Role in the Current Meta
Diablo's main strengths lie in his notorious Shadow Charge plus Overpower
combo, which can unconditionally displace and control a target of his choosing,
and very strong zoning Heroic Ability choices. Since his ability
to waveclear, 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.
Changelog
- 18 Apr. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 04 Feb. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 04 Feb. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 04 Feb. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 19 Aug. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 19 Aug. 2024 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 19 Aug. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 11 Feb. 2024 (talents page): Explanation for Heroic Abilities improved.
- 11 Feb. 2024 (abilities page): Explanation for Heroic Abilities improved.
- 17 Dec. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 17 Dec. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
- 15 Sep. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 15 Sep. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 03 Feb. 2022 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 03 Feb. 2022 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 03 Feb. 2022 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 03 Nov. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 03 Nov. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 10 Sep. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
- 10 Sep. 2021 (abilities page): New layout.
- 13 Aug. 2021 (this page): Maps updated.
- 20 May 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 20 May 2021 (abilities page): Builds updated.
- 20 May 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 22 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Q build re-added to recommended builds.
- 30 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Talent builds and recommendations updated to better reflect metagame state.
- 30 Aug. 2020 (this page): Role in the Current Meta section updated.
- 05 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Descriptions reviewed for Soul Armor and Devastating Charge.
- 13 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added a note about current Anomaly.
- 15 Oct. 2019 (talents page): Talent builds and recommendations reviewed and updated.
- 15 Oct. 2019 (abilities page): Abilities section reviewed.
- 15 Oct. 2019 (this page): Guide updated.
- 22 May 2018 (talents page): Talents updated to account for the Diablo rework patch.
- 22 May 2018 (this page): Guide updated to account for the Diablo patch rework.
- 14 Jan. 2018 (talents page): Updated Heroic Talent assessments. Updated Shadow build.
- 26 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Updated the Shadow Charge build.
- 05 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Talents updated to better reflect metagame state.
- 22 Dec. 2016 (this page): Guide updated to account for the Ragnaros patch rework and moved to the new format.
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Elitesparkle has been hooked on Heroes of the Storm since day one in 2015. Over the years, he has consistently competed at Master level across multiple Seasons and has even climbed into Grand Master a couple of times. Known for his logical mindset and love for theorycrafting, he thrives on breaking down the game's mechanics and engaging in high-level strategy discussions with the community.
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