Imperius Build Guide “Valor will be victorious!”
Welcome to our guide for Imperius, a Bruiser 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.
Imperius's Overview
Imperius is a high-damage melee Bruiser that can also be played as a tank. He has a variety of self-healing mechanisms allowing him to pursue his enemies relentlessly. While his damage is to be respected, his limited mobility and underwhelming peel potential usually require him to be paired with another frontliner.
Imperius's Strengths and Weaknesses
- Outstanding self-healing
- Strong burst damage
- Decent in lane
- Good late game
- Can be played as a Melee Assassin or an Offlaner
- Great follow up for crowd controls
- Dependent on hitting Celestial Charge
- Limited mobility
- Has no peeling mechanics until Level 20
- Can be kited easily by enemies with high range
- Mediocre waveclear
- Weak against knockbacks, Roots, and Slows
Imperius's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Molten Armor Build
RecommendedImperius's Molten Armor Build improves your waveclear in the early game, survivability against burst damage, and your damage contribution during team fights in the late game by reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.
The additional waveclear comes from Consuming Flame at Level 1 and particularly Holy Fervor at Level 7. Due to its limited amount, however, you will not be able to double soak.
Melting Touch at Level 16 allows you to reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes. Divine Rage at Level 13 lets you use it more often, unless you decided to pick Burn the Impure at Level 1 in order to deal more percent-based damage.
When playing Imperius as Offlaner, you should prefer Consuming Flame at Level 1. When playing Imperius in the 4-man, you should pick Burn the Impure at Level 1 instead.
Celestial Charge Build
SituationalImperius's Celestial Charge Build increases your self-sustain by a fair amount and features a damage reduction effect that can be used to increase your own survivability and the survivability of allied Heroes in the late game.
Pathetic Mortals at Level 13 allows you to reduce the damage done by enemy Heroes. Impaling Light at Level 1 lets you use it more often, unless you decided to pick Burn the Impure at Level 1 in order to deal more percent-based damage.
Due to its lack of waveclear, you should not choose this Build when playing Imperius as Offlaner but only consider using it when playing Imperius in the 4-man.
ARAM Build
ARAMImperius's Celestial Charge Build increases your self-sustain by a fair amount and features a damage reduction effect that can be used to increase your own survivability and the survivability of allied Heroes in the late game.
Pathetic Mortals at Level 13 allows you to reduce the damage done by enemy Heroes. Impaling Light at Level 1 lets you use it more often, unless you decided to pick Burn the Impure at Level 1 in order to deal more percent-based damage.
Imperius's Synergies and Counters
Imperius's mobility is one of his greatest weaknesses, consequently, he pairs extremely well with Heroes like Jaina or Fenix that can slow enemies, so Imperius can catch them up with Celestial Charge. On the other hand, Heroes like Mal'Ganis or E.T.C. that can keep enemies in place are even better, because Imperius is very dependent on hitting his Charge, and a sleeping or stunned enemy is a guaranteed hit. Furthermore, as a tank, Imperius requires another resistant Hero in the frontline that can compensate for his lack of peel, like Yrel or Blaze.
Imperius has limited mobility, and can be easily punished by ranged Heroes if he cannot hit Celestial Charge. For this reason, slows and knockbacks are very good against him, since they greatly facilitate the kiting against Imperius and can be used to interrupt Celestial Charge.
Imperius's Maps
Imperius falls slightly behind other Offlaners when it comes to waveclear. However, he excels in teamfights due to his high damage and sustain. For those reasons, Imperius is a great Hero on teamfight-focused Maps that do not require you to double soak, such as Towers of Doom, Volskaya Foundry, or Alterac Pass.
Imperius's Tips and Tricks
- Molten Armor is very strong in a 1-versus-1 situation, as it focuses all of its damage on the same target.
- Angelic Armaments can be used to take down enemy Heroes, so do not hesitate to use the activatable component if you do not have to worry about getting damaged.
- Celestial Charge can be used to impale and Stun several enemies at once, however, keep in mind that Imperius cannot move during the animation.
- Molten Armor can be activated while Imperius is impaling enemies with Celestial Charge to maximize his damage output.
- Stutter-stepping is crucial when playing Imperius in order to maximize Valorous Brand's damage output.
- To improve Imperius's waveclear, use Solarion's Fire when the enemy Minion wave is lined up in a straight line.
- The closer your target is from you, the easier it is to hit Celestial Charge. If you aim Celestial charge very close to Imperius, it will hit enemies much sooner, because there will be no time spent moving towards the enemy.
Imperius's Role in the Current Meta
While Imperius's sustain damage may be slightly higher than that of other Bruisers, his poor waveclear turns him into an underwhelming Offlaner if you need to constantly double soak. For this reason, Imperius can also be picked as a sort of a Melee Assassin, so that he will still bring all his damage to fights without compromising your macro play.
Imperius's early game is decent, however, he truly shines in the later stages of the game with increased self-sustain and damage thanks to his Level 7, 13, 16 and 20 Talents. Imperius will be a dangerous threat after Level 7 and beyond, so it is recommended to play carefully before those power spikes.
Changelog
- 05 Mar. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 05 Mar. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 29 Oct. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 29 Oct. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- Holy Fervor's Description improved.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 03 Aug. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 03 Aug. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 10 Mar. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 01 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Minor fixes.
- 25 Feb. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 25 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Descriptions updated.
- 25 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 19 Sep. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds to reflect current meta.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (this page): Builds updated to reflect current meta.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to better reflect current meta.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (abilities page): Reviewed and updated the Abilities section.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (this page): Guide updated to address Imperius's tank capabilities and Celestial Charge build.
- 15 May 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to reflect Pathetic Mortals' changes.
- 15 May 2020 (this page): Updated guide to better reflect current meta.
- 13 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to better reflect current meta.
- 12 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added an entry about the current Anomaly to the guide.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds in accordance with the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Updated Imperius's Abilities in accordance with the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Revised the Imperius guide and applied several minor updates.
- 28 Jan. 2019 (talents page): Changed Burn the Impure from from Situational to Recommended and updated the Build accordingly.
- 10 Jan. 2019 (talents page): Changed Sovereign Armor from Situational to Recommended.
- 08 Jan. 2019 (this page): Guide added.
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Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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