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Table of Contents
General Information
Welcome to our Diablo guide for Heroes of the Storm. Here you will learn everything you need to know in order to play Diablo in a competitive environment, whether you play on your own or with a team.
About the Author
Oxygen is a veteran of the MOBA genre, which he has been playing for nearly 15 years. He has coached some of Heroes of the Storm's most prominent North American players and teams alike, including Team Liquid. As a Master player, he enjoys playing all Heroes and roles.
1. Quick Reference for Diablo
Fire Stomp Build (talent calculator link)
This 
Fire Stomp Build focuses on improving Fire Stomp to increase
Diablo's damage output and significantly.
Shadow Charge Build (talent calculator link)
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.
Synergies and Counters
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.
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.
Maps
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.
TL;DR Tips
- 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.
2. Introduction
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.
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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.
6. Reading Further
To take things further, we have 2 more pages that you can read:
- Abilities and Strategy: an overview of your hero's abilities and how to use them;
- Talent Build: a detailed rundown of your talents and how to choose them.
7. ChangeLog
- 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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